Richmond Free Press April 23-25, 2020 edition

Richmond Free Press © 2020 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 29 NO. 18

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

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Meet board president of Oakwood Arts B1

Testing and protests A5, B2

APRIL 23-25, 2020

Beating COVID-19 Delegate Delores McQuinn is on a mission to help others avoid getting the coronavirus after she and her family were stricken

By Reginald Stuart

When Delores Jordan McQuinn was a promising youngster volunteering for voter registration efforts in the Bungalow City neighborhood of Eastern Henrico County, she would always do her best to get the word out — register and vote.

She did so well that, one year, she was chosen Miss NAACP of Henrico County.

Delegate McQuinn, who now represents parts of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield County in the Virginia House of Delegates, has conquered many challenges since those days. They range from lifethreatening Ku Klux Klan activities she remembers from her childhood to surviving a battle with cancer as a married mother of two.

Just last month, the 65year old Delegate Quinn, who also is associate minister of New Bridge Baptist Church Please turn to A4

Plasma from recovered patients may hold cure for others

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

The McQuinn family is on the mend after Delegate Delores McQuinn, right, and her husband, Jonathan McQuinn, 63, and their daughter, Daytriel McQuinn-Nzassi, 37, were stricken with the coronavirus. They were in quarantine at the McQuinn family home in Varina. Ms. McQuinn-Nzassi’s husband and young daughters, who also were in the house, didn’t contract the virus.

State officials stay the course on the coronavirus

By George Copeland

Keep on keeping on.

That’s the continuing message from officials as Virginia dramatically increased its coronavirus testing capability, data collection and access to health information.

Gov. Ralph S. Northam last week extended state restrictions on nonessential businesses and public gatherings from April 23 to May 8, while the stay-at-home order is still set to expire on June 10.

Despite protests Wednesday and last week by small numbers of people calling for businesses to reopen, the governor has given no indication of when Virginia will begin easing restrictions. New guidelines from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention recommend 14 consecutive days of declining cases before starting to gradually phase out restrictions.

In the commonwealth, there is potential for the number of COVID-19 cases

to grow as testing capacity increases with the growth of in-house testing at facilities across the state, including Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia, and more private labs begin running tests.

Currently, the state lab is able to perform 300 tests a day, and will be able to run 400 tests daily by next week thanks to new equipment, officials said.

As of Wednesday, the number of positive cases in the state had risen to 9,630, resulting in 1,581 hospitalizations and 324 deaths, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

African-Americans still are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, comprising 28 percent of the those testing positive for COVID-19 and 34 percent of the deaths, Dr. M. Norman Oliver, the state health commissioner, reported Monday.

The update comes at the state health department has expanded the breadth of Please turn to A4

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

With horns honking and passengers waving signs, a line of vehicles carrying protesters descend on Downtown near the State Capitol on Wednesday demanding that Gov. Ralph S. Northam lift the restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus and reopen Virginia’s economy. Please see more photos, B2.

If you have recovered from COVID-19, the antibodies you developed could help save someone who is struggling to survive.

That’s the message from VCU Medical Center, which is seeking donations of plasma from coronavirus survivors so those antibodies can be injected into current patients with the virus.

VCU officials said this technique has been used in past disease outbreaks, including the 1918 flu pandemic, the pre-vaccine treatment of measles and more recently for Ebola, SARS and the H1N1 flu.

The hospital is preparing this week to administer convalescent plasma for the first time to a COVID19-positive patient. VCU officials noted that this is the only option as there is no treatment for the virus.

If plasma with antibodies “proves to be effective in patients with COVID19, it could be used to prevent the disease in exposed persons, shorten the severity of illness, reduce serious complications and even prevent death,” said Dr. Gonzalo Bearman, director of VCU Health’s Infection Prevention Program.

“We can’t provide this potentially life-saving treatment to those in need without our community’s help,” said Dr. Jeffrey Donowitz, an infectious disease specialist with VCU’s Children’s Hospital.

“Donating plasma is a safe and selfless way to give back for the greater good of our community. You could save a life.”

VCU officials are asking people to sign up through the American Red Cross, which operates a confidential registry.

Details: Dr. Donowitz, (804) 828-1808 or Jeffrey.

Donowitz@vcuhealth.org.

General Assembly delays minimum wage hike until May 1 Free Press staff report

Former President Obama

Class of 2020 has hope in President Obama

Forget a Jan. 1 raise for the Virginia minimum wage.

The $2.25 hourly wage increase from $7.25 to $9.50 is set to happen on May 1, 2021.

By narrow margins, the House of Delegates and state Senate on Wednesday accepted the recommendation of Gov. Ralph S. Northam to delay the wage hike for four months.

Despite howls from Democratic-supporting

labor leaders, Gov. Northam made the posted how the members present voted. recommendation to soften the impact Four Democrats reportedly joined Repubon business owners, who reportedly are licans, who opposed any increase. unable to bear the increased cost because In the Senate, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairthey have been as hard hit by the corofax cast the deciding vote to support the navirus pandemic as the workers who governor’s recommendation to push the would benefit from the pay hike. wage increase to May after the members’ The House voted 49-45 to delay the vote ended in a 20-20 tie. increase, according to the Legislative InIf the delay recommendation had failed formation System. By Free Press deadline Lt. Gov. Fairfax in either chamber, the wage hike would Wednesday evening, the House clerk’s office had not have become effective at the start of the new year.

Backflips and cartwheels

Free Press staff, wire report

Could Barack Obama deliver a national graduation address to students?

Stay tuned.

It might happen, though the 58-year-old former president has not yet agreed, nor are any arrangements being made for him to deliver an address online or via broadcast to replace the thousands of graduation ceremonies across the country that have been canceled because of the

Montrell Mosley 6, left, keeps the backflip and cartwheel party going as Demario Otey, 9, and Aiden Otey, 5, finish their rotations last Saturday in the 1700 block of Armstrong Way in Church Hill North.

Please turn to A4 Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

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April 23-25, 2020

Richmond Free Press

Local News

Overall crime down in Richmond during pandemic

These two views document that mask wearing and social distancing do not appear to be common practices among some Richmond Police officers. These disparate photos of officers were taken Friday, April 10, as activists rallied by car and on foot in front of the Richmond Justice Center to call for the release of nonviolent prisoners to prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside. The protesters all wore masks, the photographer noted. Richmond Police Chief Will Smith told the Free Press last week that officers are advised to wear

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

One silver lining during this pandemic is a reduction in crime, according to Richmond Police Chief Will Smith.

In an interview Friday, Chief Smith said that reported major crimes dropped 26 percent in April compared with the same period in February and March — a sign that even criminals might be paying heed to the warnings about the coronavirus and staying home.

That doesn’t mean crime has taken a holiday in the Capital City. For example, homicide already has claimed three lives this month, nearly one-sixth of the 17 people who have been shot, battered and knifed to death so far this year, according to data posted on the Richmond Police Department’s website.

Still, there have been fewer rapes and robberies reported in the first four months of the year compared with the same period a year ago, the data show. A review of the data indicates that the biggest decreases between March and April have occurred in felony assaults and thefts, as well as in the category of other crimes that includes offenses ranging from vandalism to hit-and-runs.

During the first 21 days of April, the department received reports of 255 thefts of property. That is 31 percent fewer than the 368 property thefts reported during the first 21 days of March.

So far in April, 164 assaults have been reported, 23 percent fewer than the 213 assaults reported in the first 21 days of March.

In the category of other crimes, 1,028 were reported in the first 21 days of March, but only 709 in the first 21 days of April, a 31 percent drop.

For Chief Smith, the pandemic also has meant more officers have been available to respond and fewer officers have been tied up testifying in court, with judges postponing many of the cases.

He also noted the department’s rank and file has largely remained healthy.

Chief Smith reported that he has about 655 sworn personnel available for duty of the 755 officers he is authorized, which he described as typical for the department. Of the 100 others on the department’s roster, 28 are recruits in training. Others are out on scheduled holiday leave, on the bench for disciplinary reasons, away on military service, on medical leave for other reasons than the virus or unavailable for other reasons.

“Overall, I think our department is in pretty good shape,” Chief Smith said.

He is keeping his fingers crossed that the downward trend in overall crime continues.

Richmond School Board grapples with $24.5M budget shortfall

By Ronald E. Carrington

The Richmond School Board is holding a special meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, April 23, to continue discussing how to handle a $24.5 million shortfall in the proposed 2020-21 budget from the loss of city revenue stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

The public can submit comments and questions by 1 p.m.

Thursday to be taken up by the board that will be streamed live on the Richmond Public Schools’ Facebook page.

The $24.5 million shortfall was announced at the School Board meeting Monday night. Superintendent Jason Kamras told the board there was a $7 million shortfall in the 2020-21 budget the School Board adopted in March. But with the city’s revenue projections revised downward Mr. Kamras because of the coronavirus impact, the amount of money RPS is expecting from the city had to be lowered.

This means revisiting, and possibly cutting, all budget expenditures above $500,000, including the planned 4 percent pay raise for teachers, preschool transportation increases as well as more than 20 teaching positions, according to the administration’s budget documents.

The administration recommended maintaining funding for the school system’s STEM academies, pay increases for support staff, annual step increases in pay and for 15 additional reading specialists and 20 additional attendance positions.

“The Virginia Department of Education estimates RPS will receive roughly $13.2 million in federal stimulus money, which comes with some stipulations about how it can be spent,” Mr. Kamras said, adding the stipulations are fairly broad.

Because the stimulus is a one-time payment, the administration’s recommendation is to apply the dollars toward coronavirus-related costs, not the shortfall, such as disinfecting schools, buying personal protective equipment for staff and providing academic interventions to make up for lost learning time.

“It would be prudent for the school system to reserve funds for the possibility of having to close again in case of another outbreak next year,” Mr. Kamras said.

The board is expected to adopt the 2020-21 budget at its meeting on May 18.

However, as the district struggles with adjusting the budget and the COVID-19 crisis, there is good news. School Board member Jonathan Young, 4th District, said because of the pandemic, RPS has built a new virtual learning platform “and most students and parents are pleased with it.”

“With the learning platforms, we will be able to meet our students where they are academically much better than in the past,” he said.

Additionally, the administration is still in conversation with J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College to develop a career and technical education facility in RPS’ Altria Building on South Side off Jefferson Davis Highway.

“We are going to go forward with that,” Mr. Young said in a Free Press interview Tuesday. “It is likely an agreement will be executed allowing RPS to partner with Reynolds as soon as this year.”

Mr. Kamras said the college expressed interest in leasing part of the facility to start work to expand their capacity, as well as providing an additional revenue stream for the school district.

Have your say Questions or comments for the Richmond School Board?

Submit them by 1 p.m. Thursday, April 23, to the School Board clerk at speakers@rvaschools.net.

The meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. that day, will be streamed live on the Richmond Public Schools Facebook page at www. facebook.com/RichmondPublicSchools/.

Cityscape Slices of life and scenes in Richmond

masks if called to a scene where they are notified that someone has the disease or has possible symptoms. Otherwise, he said, each officer has discretion as to whether to wear a mask. He said he has not issued any standing orders on the subject. On April 6, Gov. Ralph S. Northam recommended that Virginians wear face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. He cited guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that a face covering offers some level of protection against the spread of the coronavirus from airborne droplets as a person talks, coughs or sneezes.

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

City to step up housing aid with $4.3M in federal funding

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced Tuesday that Richmond will use an infusion of federal cash and city funds to pour $5.8 million into emergency housing for homeless people, the creation of more affordable housing and services to those at risk of eviction when courts resume action on cases, possibly on Monday, May 18.

The mayor called the initiative a stepped-up city effort to care for “our most vulnerable” people.

He laid out his plan that relies Mayor heavily on nearly $4.3 million in federal funds just a day after city Budget Director Jay Brown told City Council that the Stoney administration had no information available on the amount the city could expect in state and federal relief.

In response to a Free Press query, Dr. Brown stated that the council was notified Friday of the extra housing dollars, which are kept separate from the general fund.

However, the City Clerk’s Office could find no record of that notice.

Initial use of the $5.8 million, the mayor stated, would include steering $250,000 to Housing Opportunities Made Equal to support the Eviction Diversion Program and providing another $300,000 to Homeward, the regional homeless services agency, to support its housing of nearly 100 unsheltered people for 90 days in city hotels.

Those city dollars apparently would come from a $2.1 million fund the mayor created in March to address emergency housing needs after the COVID-19 state of emergency was issued.

As to the nearly $4.3 million Stoney made available to the city through the federal CARES Act, Mayor Stoney stated the lion’s share, $2.68 million, would go to the city’s Community Development Block Grant program to increase funding to nonprofit groups that develop affordable housing.

The mayor stated that the city would issue a public notice of funding availability, or NOFA, and request applications from eligible organizations seeking a share of the funding for affordable housing devel-

opment.

The mayor also proposed to use $1.35 million for grants for emergency housing solutions to be awarded after the NOFA is issued and applications are received, with the focus on creating new overflow shelter space for next winter. The remaining $194,445 would be used to provide additional housing options for people with AIDS, another federal grant program the city operates, he stated. That funding also would be the subject of a NOFA request for applications, he added.

Separately, Mayor Stoney stated he would ask City Council to amend the current budget to allow $1 million in the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund to be used to create emergency housing, permanent supportive housing and affordable housing to boost options for low-income residents.

That also would be the subject of a NOFA, he stated.

The mayor urged people needing housing assistance to contact the Homeless Crisis Line, (804) 972-0813; the Family Crisis Fund, (804) 646-6464; or the Eviction Helpline, (833) 663-8428 or visit at www. rvastrong.org.

Waiver of penalties and interest on late real estate and vehicle taxes in works

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

4th District, to allow payment without penalty or interest until July 31. Ms. Reid Richmonders are being promised some said any payments received after June 30, relief as they face a Friday, June 5, dead- the end of the current 2019-20 fiscal year, line for paying city taxes on real estate could not be included in the fiscal year and vehicles. collections, creating more red ink.

Pressed by City Council, Lenora Reid, The announcement came as the counthe city’s chief administrative officer, told cil continued its review of the mayor’s City Council on Monday that Mayor Levar amended spending plan for the 2020-21 M. Stoney’s administration supfiscal year budget that goes into ports amnesty for taxpayers that effect July 1. would allow late payments by The council, though meeting Tuesday, June 30, to be made remotely, plans to accept public without interest and penalties. comments on the budget plan that Ms. Reid agreed to City calls for rolling back spending by Council’s request to have the $38.5 million based on projecadministration introduce an tions of reduced revenue. ordinance by the next council People will be able to send meeting on Monday, April 27, comments by email or text or Ms. Reid to authorize a waiver of penalcall into the remote meeting and ties and interest on property taxes and speak if they register online by calling the vehicle taxes so that council can approve City Clerk’s Office at (804) 649-7955 by it in early May. 10 a.m. Monday, ahead of the meeting The ordinance would expand a waiver at 6 p.m. of penalties and interest for businesses Any waiver of interest and penalties that are struggling to pay taxes collected would impact the current budget. on meals, concerts and hotel rooms. That The city projected in the 2019-20 waiver is expected to be approved by budget collecting at least $16 million council on Monday. in delinquent tax payments with penMs. Reid gave her assent to the waiver alties and interest. Ms. Reid was not after expressing concern about a proposal asked by council for an estimate of from Councilwoman Kristen N. Larson, how much revenue from late payments

might be lost.

Councilwoman Kim B. Gray, 2nd District, who is challenging Mayor Stoney in the November mayoral election, expressed concern that the administration has not disclosed the impact of COVID-19 on the current budget and is being “reckless” in not scaling back proposed spending even more.

While the administration has estimated that meals tax collections could drop 10 percent, or about $4.6 million, in the next fiscal year based on restaurant closures and reduced sales due to a virus-caused recession, Ms. Gray suggested that the loss of revenue could be even greater.

She noted that Henrico County is slashing $100 million from its budget and suggested that Richmond needs to prepare for revenue losses far deeper than the $38.5 million projected.

In written comments and statements, Ms. Reid and city Budget Director Jay A. Brown indicated that cuts in city services and furloughs and layoffs of city employees may be needed if the city’s revenue falls.

The written comments indicated the city, as a last resort to maintain a balanced budget, could tap into the pool of $125 million in unspent funds that has been saved to deal with emergencies.

Richmond Free Press

April 23-25, 2020

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A4 April 23-25, 2020

News

Delegate McQuinn is on a mission to help others avoid getting the coronavirus after she and her family were stricken Continued from A1

in Highland Springs, survived a scary battle with the deadly COVID-19.

“In the past, there were target groups,” Delegate McQuinn said in a telephone interview this week with the Free Press, referring to battles over racial segregation and integration and political contests between rivals.

But with COVID-19, “everyone is a target,” she said.

It attacks regardless of race, creed, color, ethnic origin, gender or religious or political belief.

“I have not experienced anything like this COVID-19 in my life,” she said.

In March, the McQuinn home became a quarantine and recovery refuge as her daughter, Daytriel McQuinn-Nzassi, 37, suspected she had COVID-19, which was soon confirmed. A few days later, Delegate McQuinn found out she, too, contracted the virus, quickly followed by her 63-year-old husband, Jonathan McQuinn.

Delegate McQuinn initially called a doctor and asked about her daughter’s breathing. If it became labored and too difficult for her to breathe, the doctor said, Delegate McQuinn should immediately take her daughter to a hospital. Otherwise she could recover at home with Tylenol to keep her temperature down and

State officials stay the course on the coronavirus Continued from A1

information on its COVID-19 website, offering more detailed demographic and geographic information about the cases in Virginia.

“We understand the fear and anxiety that many people have around this pandemic,” Dr. Oliver said. “Giving high-quality accurate data in a timely fashion will help address this additional public health need that we have in facing this pandemic.”

Data from the COVID-19 model developed by the University of Virginia show that measures adopted by the state, such as closures and social distancing, have help slow the spread of the virus, lessening the stress placed on Virginia hospitals. The model also shows a potential peak in positive cases between late April and early May. However, the model also projects a potential resurgence in cases in mid-July or August if the restrictions and stay-at-home order are lifted too early.

In citing this prediction, Gov. Northam stressed the necessity of his recommendation to residents and officials to stay the course in addressing the coronavirus.

“We need to be clear: Things are not going back exactly like they were before,” Gov. Northam said. “Together, we will figure out how to build a new normal.”

Class of 2020 has hope in President Obama Continued from A1

coronavirus pandemic.

The idea has started to gain traction, however, among high school and college students scheduled to graduate and their parents.

It all started with a Twitter message that 17-year-old Lincoln Debenham, a high school senior in California, posted April 14 under the handle Lincoln@Lincolnjackd.

The message: “Hi@BarackObama! Like most high school/ college seniors, I’m saddened by the loss of milestone events, prom & graduation. In an unprecedented time, it would give us great comfort to hear your voice. We ask you to consider giving a national commencement address to the class of 2020.”

Lincoln told Inside Edition that he did it because “I remembered what a great speaker he was and that message of hope he always delivered.”

The idea has morphed into a viral plea that has spread across the country among Twitter users who have joined in asking the 44th president to take on the speaking role. Lincoln’s post has been liked by more than 200,000 Twitter users in the eight days since the post went up, and nearly 50,000 have retweeted the post, according to Twitter data.

Lincoln said he has not received a response from Mr. Obama.

But CNN and People magazine both reported that the former president has gotten wind of the tidal wave of support. But while reports came back that he “is flattered,” there was no further comment from his team.

Still, Lincoln has his fingers crossed that the former president, author of “The Audacity of Hope” among other books, will do it.

Some students are urging his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, to join him in delivering a metaphorical hug to the Class of 2020 graduates who are slated now to receive their diplomas and degrees in the mail.

No word yet from Mrs. Obama.

warm beverages and water to stay hydrated. The doctor also prescribed total rest, Delegate McQuinn said.

As the virus went through the McQuinn household, Delegate McQuinn and her husband experienced the same symptoms and followed the same path to recovery. It took from mid-March until early April before they began to feel like themselves again.

Today, Delegate McQuinn has a new campaign: To get more people to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously or risk losing their lives as countless Virginians already have.

Following health leaders’ guidance may temporarily disrupt most people’s daily routines for a while, she said. But not heeding their call will certainly put your life at risk, she added.

“We are dealing with a different arena now,” she said. “It’s definitely a different world.”

She said she has been in countless phone and internet discussions with neighbors, church members and political colleagues about strategies to get people to heed the guidance from Gov. Ralph S. Northam, a physician, and state and local health officials to keep 6 feet away from others, wash their hands frequently with soap in the warmest water possible and stay out of public gathering places as much as possible.

Delegate McQuinn said she plans to spread the health alert and awareness about COVID-19 to her congregation and political constituents.

“The disease can do permanent damage to our families and communities,” she said, noting the warning is especially appropriate for people of color and low-income people who suffer from a disproportionate share of underlying diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity that make them more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus.

Weakening of the body’s immune system due to aging is a challenge too, she said. At the other end of the life spectrum, clustering in crowds and excessive recreation leaves people vulnerable to catching COVID-19 by association, she said, echoing health officials.

“We’ve got to get the message out,” Delegate McQuinn said.

“This is a chilling disease.”

Recalling her early years of campaigning, Delegate McQuinn, a former member of the Richmond School Board and Richmond City Council, said she has spoken with pastors about getting involved with anti-COVID-19 appeals just as they did with voter registration drives in the past.

She talked about riding in vehicles through neighborhoods and using a bullhorn urging people to abide by appeals from health officials and Gov. Northam to stay home if possible and adhere to the basics to mitigate the spread of the virus. She said she has shared thoughts with some peers about getting the broadcast and cable services to air public service announcements.

Meanwhile, her recovery from COVID-19 has progressed so well that she attended Wednesday’s reconvened session of the General Assembly to take up the governor’s changes and vetoes to legislation.

Delegate McQuinn said she understands the economic slide the state has experienced with the coronavirus disruption means revenue will be far short of what was envisioned at the start of the year.

She said education aid, further expansion of Medicaid health coverage and a long-awaited boost in the state’s minimum wage, all issues important to her agenda and constituents, may have to wait despite the passion for action. Because of the revenue outlook with the pandemic, people are not likely to see any new programs of substance “for years,” she said.

Still, giving front line health care workers and others in the low-wage, but “essential” category a boost in hourly pay remains a front-burner item, she said.

“Delay does not mean denied,” Delegate Mc Quinn said, suggesting the legislature may take some action later this year.

“Right now, under the circumstances, I clearly understand,” she said, adding that she will be pushing the wage issue again.

Meanwhile, the center of attention for her today is fighting the spread of COVID-19.

“There are going to be losses, great losses,” she said.

Richmond Convention Center not needed for auxiliary pandemic hospital

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

overnight stays, he said.

The public is social distancing so well The plan to convert the Greater Rich- that the numbers needing hospitalization mond Convention Center into an emergency from the virus has not risen exponentially hospital for COVID-19 patients as once feared, Dr. Avula said. has been sidelined for now, Instead, the demand for hospital according to Dr. Danny Avula, beds appears to be flattening, he director of the Richmond City added. and Henrico County Health Hospitals also gained more districts. leeway by following state orders At this point, the extra hospito cancel elective surgeries, tal space does not appear to be despite taking a major financial needed, Dr. Avula said during a hit in doing so. news conference last Friday.

Dr. Avula The numbers also speak of a Existing hospitals have been low volume of cases. able to handle the number of people with On Tuesday, the Virginia Department COVID-19 while continuing to serve other of Health reported that in the area’s three patients with cancer, heart conditions, se- major jurisdictions, Richmond and Chesvere injuries and other conditions requiring terfield and Henrico counties, there were

a total of 1,213 people confirmed with the virus, but only 158 had to be hospitalized, or 13 percent.

Of the confirmed cases, there were 97 deaths, or 7.9 percent of the total. That’s higher than average and is mostly due largely to the 45 deaths reported at Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Henrico.

Henrico also had the most confirmed cases of the virus — 621 — with 90 people hospitalized and 77 deaths.

In Richmond, the state health department reported that 246 people have been confirmed with the virus, 39 needed to be hospitalized and 10 deaths.

Chesterfield County had 346 confirmed cases, with 29 people hospitalized and 10 deaths.

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Richmond Free Press

April 23-25, 2020

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Local News

City, Henrico health districts start COVID-19 testing in targeted areas

By Ronald E. Carrington

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free, walk-in COVID-19 testing targeted to people in low-income communities of color who do not have health insurance or whose insurance does not cover COVID-19.

“Screenings will be held in public housing communities because this has not been done much around the country,” Dr. Danny Avula, director of the two health districts, said during a news conference last Friday. “We want to ensure that people needing testing get it while we (the health districts) are thoughtful about the process and not contributing to the spread of COVID-19.”

According to the health districts’ news release, specific site locations are not being made public “to enable orderly and efficient operation of the testing events, and to adhere to social distanc-

ing guidelines.”

Residents experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough or a fever, are asked to call the health district hotline – (804) 205-3501 – to learn about the testing and set up an appointment.

Officials anticipate testing 100 to 150 people at each event.

Dr. Avula said 22 people were tested during the first walk-up event held Tuesday at Woodman West Apartments, a subsidized housing complex on Blackburn Road in Glen Allen. A second event was being held Wednesday at Southwood Apartments in South Richmond.

“Some of the 22 were walk-ups and some had appointments,” Dr. Avula said. “We are really trying to preserve the testing for residents for the communities we are testing in.”

Details: Go to Richmond and Henrico health districts’ websites at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ richmond-city and https://henrico.us/health/.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Lamire Balde is tested for the coronavirus by health care professionals at a Richmond Health District walk-up testing event Wednesday at the Southwood Apartments in South Side.

Area meal programs feed first responders, help restaurants

By Jeremy M. Lazarus and Ronald E. Carrington

City Hall is planning to pump more than $500,000 over the next two months into Richmond-based restaurants that serve meals to Richmond police officers, firefighters and ambulance staff.

The new First Responder Meal Program, launched April 16 and scheduled to last through June 10, follows in the footsteps of other programs seeking to both support beleaguered restaurants as well as feed people on the front line of the fight against COVID-19.

The city has set aside $519,000 from its operational money to fuel the new program.

As announced, the city program permits first responders on duty the option to order a meal from one of the listed restaurants.

Those ordering can choose from among the day’s list of city-based restaurants. Establish-

ments with 25 or fewer employees are invited to participate, according to the city’s statement.

“Once a restaurant is signed up, the program’s administrator will assign the restaurant one or more dates when the city will pick up the tab for first responders’ meals,” the statement noted.

The program’s goal is to give first responders a variety of choices daily and provide as many restaurants as possible an opportunity to benefit.

“This program is a simple and delicious way for the city to expand our support for small businesses and thank our first responders,” Mayor Levar M. Stoney said.

The city program mirrors one that the Richmond Academy of Medicine and the Retail Merchants Association began in early April to benefit health care workers as well as local restaurants and caterers.

That program, called Loving Lunches RVA,

purchases and delivers boxed lunches from local businesses to area hospital emergency departments and intensive care units, mobile testing sites, community clinics, primary care community practices and other sites most severely impacted by COVID-19.

The Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond provided a grant to start the program. Additional funds have come from private donations to support health providers and food operations.

The program has delivered meals to workers at Johnston-Willis Hospital, Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, VCU Health, the Daily Planet Clinic and CrossOver Healthcare Ministry.

Currently, nearly 70 restaurants and food establishments have signed up to participate, organizers said.

Loving Lunches RVA is being expanded to provide meals night and day to various fa-

cilities that operate 24 hours a day, organizers announced.

This program “means a lot to our front line colleagues and staff,” said Dr. Peter Buckley, dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine.

“Loving Lunches RVA helps restaurants to get back to what they do best – serving people in our community,” said Nancy Thomas, president of the Retail Merchants Association. “These businesses are paying a heavy price for measures intended to limit the spread of COVID-19, and this program helps bring them business while simultaneously showing gratitude to our health care workers.”

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army, with support from AT&T and Ukrop’s, is delivering weekly 1,200 pre-packaged heat-and-eat dinners to first responders outside the city and to doctors, nurses and other staffs at area hospitals.

Virus testing expands in state prisons with push from advocates

Student learning continues via VA TV Classroom on public television stations

By George Copeland Jr.

Richmond area students can tune into teacher-led classroom instruction on TV thanks to a new initiative by Virginia’s public media stations.

The “VA TV Classroom” broadcasts, which started April 13, are designed to instruct and help students in kindergarten through 10th grade who may not be able to access other distance learning options because of a lack of high-speed internet.

VA TV Classroom airs between 1 and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Richmond area on Virginia Public Media WCVE Channel 23; via antenna 57.1; Verizon FiOS 24 and 524 (HD); Comcast 24 and 797 (HD); DIRECTV 57; DISH 57 and 9392 (HD).

In addition to the local public media station, VA TV Classroom will be broadcast on Blue Ridge PBS in the western part of the state, WETA in Northern Virginia and WHRO Public Media in Hampton Roads.

Instruction for students in grades K-3 airs from 1 to 2 p.m. with Standards of Learning-aligned content provided by WHRO Public Media. “Learn to Grow with WHRO” segments will be 15 minutes in length and led by teachers.

Grades 7-10 instruction airs from 2 to 3 p.m., with SOLaligned content provided by WHRO Public Media focusing on Earth Science and Algebra 1.

During the week beginning Monday, April 27, VA TV Classroom is adding a special hour from 3 to 4 p.m., with two 30minute segments, called “AP Prep Week.” The content, provided

by Virtual Virginia in collaboration with WHRO, focuses on a different Advanced Placement subject each day.

“At a time when all of Virginia’s students are out of school, public media is a valuable, trusted resource our communities can rely on to deliver high-quality educational content for all ages,” said Jayme Swain, president of VPM and chief executive officer of the Virginia Foundation for Public Media.

“VPM is honored to partner with Virginia’s public television stations and the state Department of Education to give students and their families a way to continue their learning at home.”

The Virginia Department of Corrections has ramped up testing of inmates and prison staff and stepped up parole consideration as state legislators and advocacy groups pressure authorities to stop the spread of COVID-19 inside state prisons.

State officials reported the death last week of the first incarcerated person from the virus, a 49-year-old woman charged with drug manufacturing and larceny. She was one of three infected prisoners at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women in Goochland being cared for in hospitals outside the facility.

As of Wednesday, 201 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, the DOC confirmed, including 25 young people held at the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, 49 inmates and two staff members in Central Virginia Correctional Unit 13 in Chesterfield County, and 13 inmates and 35 staff members at the women’s prison in Goochland.

This infection’s spread inside the close quarters of state corrections facilities, where social distancing is often difficult or impossible, has continued despite

preventive measures enacted by the DOC throughout March and April, including placing facilities on lockdown, banning visitors and screening employees.

“We certainly hoped for the best but prepared for the worst,” Brian J. Moran, state secretary of public safety and homeland security, said during a news conference in late March when he confirmed the first positive cases. “DOC has plans in place, and they’re implementing those plans and doing everything they can to prevent further spread.”

Criminal justice advocates aren’t convinced. The COVID19 Justice Coalition made up of more than 40 organizations has demanded a more proactive response from state and local officials.

“We urgently need statewide action now,” said Ashna Khanna, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, during a video news conference where she was joined by coalition representatives and several Virginia commonwealth’s attorneys.

“The actions so far from the governor and his administration do not go nearly far enough in addressing this pandemic within Virginia prisons, jails and custodial facilities.”

In a letter to Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the coalition has called for the immediate release of inmates who don’t pose an “imminent threat of bodily harm to others,” daily public reports on testing, confirmed cases, releases and measures to keep inmates and staff safe, among other recommendations.

Groups that are part of the coalition also have taken to the streets outside the Richmond City Justice Center for in-car protests for the last two Fridays.

The DOC said the Virginia Department of Health will send staff to prisons to help with increased testing, with Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and the state Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services also are providing hundreds of additional test kits to state prisons.

The DOC said it is testing all inmates who have symptoms of the virus, with asymptomatic inmates and staff being tested at Deerfield Correctional Center in Southampton County. That facility has a large population of elderly and other at-risk inmates with underlying medical conditions.

Gov. Northam noted last week that Virginia has reduced

its jail population by 17 percent in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The state also has seen a 67 percent decline across the state in the number of new commitments to jails for misdemeanors.

Even with the stepped up testing and other measures in place, Gov. Northam and Mr. Moran stressed the state’s legal limits prevent them from taking swifter action, something advocates have disputed.

“The governor has complete discretion to exercise his clemency authority as he chooses to,” said Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, director of the ACLU of Virginia.

This sentiment has been echoed by members of the General Assembly, with 17 legislators sending a letter to Gov. Northam calling on him to use his executive authority to speed up the release process.

Legislators were scheduled to vote Wednesday on a proposal from Gov. Northam that would give the DOC authority to release people with one year or less left on their sentences for the duration of the state of state of emergency. Officials said that would impact about 2,000 people now incarcerated in the state system.

Richmond Free Press

Rose in the East End

Editorial Page

A6

April 23-25, 2020

COVID-19 testing in Richmond’s high-risk communities With data showing that COVID-19 is disproportionately infecting and killing African-Americans in Richmond and across the state, we were pleased to learn late last week that city health officials were going to step up efforts to provide testing in the city’s largely black, high-poverty areas.

However, even good intentions can go haywire.

Officials with the Richmond and Henrico health districts may have gotten in their own way by setting up a walk-up testing process choked with obstacles and gatekeepers.

In announcing the testing, officials have declined to make public the day, time and place of the testing. They are asking people to call and make an appointment – for days, times and places unknown—in order for the testing to be “orderly and efficient.”

“Orderly and efficient?”

This is both insulting and paternalistic, starting with the mindset that our community cannot be orderly if we know when and where testing will be held.

We point out that other testing sites in the area — and elsewhere in the state — in majority white communities have announced what days and times they are open for testing. No artificial barriers were put in place.

We understand that local officials are targeting for testing the communities at high-risk for the infection. But not disseminating the information creates an obstacle to reaching the stated goal of testing 100 to 150 people a day.

On Tuesday, the first day of testing, which took place at a subsidized apartment complex in Henrico County, only 22 people were tested.

More and more communities across the country are providing walk-up testing in the wake of the alarming statistics showing communities of color have been hardest hit by COVID-19.

Earlier this week, officials at Florida A&M University, an HBCU, announced they will have free, open walk-up testing at the university’s stadium from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for 14 straight days aimed at residents of Tallahassee’s largely black southside community.

“We want to make sure that those who are poor and underserved or live in this community are not denied access to the testing that we all know, across the nation, is needed,” said Dr. Cynthia Harris, director of the FAMU Institute of Public Health.

There has been no indication that FAMU’s process has not been “orderly and efficient,” so why doesn’t Richmond learn from this?

For weeks, we have heard Gov. Ralph S. Northam and state and local officials express concern about the disparate numbers in the African-American community and note that testing is key.

Atrue concern over the plight of theAfrican-American community requires an effective process to be successful. But it is difficult to believe what authorities say when we see what they do.

Money vs. lives We hope Virginia officials won’t be swayed by the small, but noisy group of protesters pushing for a reopening of businesses, schools and other public and private facilities in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

They are a blindly selfish and unschooled lot who ignore social distancing guidelines and refuse to wear masks when out in public despite the guidance of learned epidemiologists, scientists and medical experts who continue to urge people to stay at home to protect the health and lives of themselves and others.

As so many families in Virginia, the nation and around the globe have sadly learned, COVID-19 is a virus that must be taken seriously.

As of Wednesday, the coronavirus infection has taken the lives of 178,845 people around the world, with more than 45,300 deaths in the United States and more than 826,200 confirmed cases.

In Virginia where less than 1 percent of the population has been tested for the virus, we have experienced 9,630 positive cases of COVID-19, 1,581 hospitalizations and 324 deaths, according to state health department data.

State officials credit the quarantine that has blanketed the state since March 24 with slowing the spread of the virus. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, a physician, issued the executive order closing schools statewide for the remainder of the academic year and all non-essential businesses. He also banned gatherings of more than 10 people.

There is no question that the order has impacted the lives of all people in ways big and small, but it has saved lives. The failure of governors in South Dakota and Iowa to shut down businesses in those states has led to a dismal situation for workers and their families at meatpacking plants.

More than 700 workers at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., were infected with COVID-19 – the largest outbreak in that state – before officials from the Smithfield, Va.-based company shut the plant down. Company CEO Kenneth M. Sullivan, in an April 12 news release, lectured more about the detrimental effect the plant’s closure would have on the nation’s meat supply, grocery stores and livestock farmers than on the health and safety of the 3,700 people employed there.

“We have a stark choice as a nation: We are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of COVID-19,” he said, as though pork products are essential food for the country.

In Iowa, coronavirus outbreaks at Tyson Foods pork plants and Tama beef plants have contributed to a major surge in cases in that state as hundreds of workers toiling in close proximity to one another have become sick and raised the state’s death toll.

If the almighty dollar trumps health and human lives in the United States, the epicenter of capitalism, then this nation will continue to be plagued by this pandemic.

We urge our readers — and all Virginians — to continue to heed the advice of the scientists and medical experts who are not guided by the political whims of the know-nothing occupant of the White House and the misinformed who follow him.

The science, Gov. Northam has said, will dictate when the stayat-home order should be lifted. Until that time comes, please stay home, wear a mask when you go out for essential trips for food and medicine, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and disinfect all frequently used surfaces.

Be safe. Be well.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Time to correct the disparities It’s no exaggeration to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has upended Virginians’ lives.

We’re practicing new routines — like social distancing, obsessive hand washing, preparing kids

out of 58,354 tested. In Delegate Carroll Foy’s Prince William County, there are 867 confirmed cases, the second highest in the Prince William Health District.

To put it mildly, this is a scary time here in Virginia and across the nation.

This unprecedented crisis poses a danger to the liveliDelegate Jennifer Carroll Foy

for a day of remote learning and sewing masks — while grappling with difficult, new economic realities and the

hood and well-being of nearly everyone. COVID-19 does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, education or socioeconomic status. And yet, all Virginians do not share the same risk of infection. The position of black and brown communities to combat this pandemic is weak, as evidenced by newly released mortality rates showing that predominantly black counties across the United States have triple the infections and six times as many deaths as predominantly white counties. It is also likely that these numbers are worse than they appear.

In Virginia, a remarkable 34.3 percent of all cases and hospitalizations did not include a report of race or ethnicity.

Dr. Leigh-Ann Jones Webb

constant fear of becoming sick during a time when health care resources are limited.

In Virginia, the number of

Access to testing, among other factors, remains a barrier. To put it bluntly, black Virginians are sick and dying at an alarming rate.

Disparities in black health outcomes are nothing new.

For example, black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth and postpartum than other women. And AfricanAmericans are more likely to live at younger ages with health issues that traditionally impact older people. What’s more, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-Americans are more likely to die younger from all causes. These unacceptable differences shed light on both the Dr. Ebony Hilton-Buchholz

confirmed cases is rising each day, totaling 9,630 individuals

conscious and unconscious bias that plagues America’s health care systems.

Whether it’s maternal mortality rates or COVID-19, there are alarming inconsistencies in access, diagnosis and treatment.

These prevent many black Virginians from getting the help they need.

Other determinants of health — environment, food accessibility, education and employment — also contribute to the problem and widen health

disparities. African-Americans typically live in urban areas and closer to environmental hazard waste sites. Black families often house many generations in one dwelling, minimizing the opportunities to practice social distancing. We’re more likely to live in food deserts, where the most readily available meal may come from a gas station instead of the produce aisle. Black workers are far more likely to work front line, low-wage jobs. With only 1 in 5 black people being able to work from home, many others are facing furloughs and unemployment. These factors begin to describe why black Virginians are vulnerable to health issues, and why it’s difficult to properly care for our families if and when they get sick.

Due to our nation’s continued need for food, transportation and child care, many lowwage workers have found themselves in front line roles, placing themselves and their families at greater risk of exposure. When we do contract the virus, we are likely to face the same unequal access we’ve faced for centuries, also complicated by lack of paid sick days. Access to testing and treatment, better jobs and higher wages are not just health care or economic issues. They are social justice issues. Historically, and now more than ever, they are matters of life and death.

The time is now to make important changes. Private and public labs should be required to collect racial and ethnic data on the coronavirus testing, cases and hospitalizations so we better understand how we can improve resources and care for all Americans, including those typically left voiceless. Health care providers should release guidance on racial bias in health and health care systems specifically related to treatment of patients with COVID-19.

Gov. Ralph S. Northam should immediately sign the minimum wage increase to provide greater economic relief for hard-working families in this time of crisis. Finally, state and federal leaders must continue expanding access to health care and coordinating with local governments to provide personal protective equipment for all front line workers.

There’s much work to be done, but this is the time to be bold and act to correct the disparities that have plagued our systems for far too long.

Hesitation in action will result in the tragic and ongoing loss of American lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue and a social justice issue. The time is now to address the inequalities that continue to stare us in the

The Free Press welcomes letters The Richmond Free Press respects the opinions of its readers. We want to hear from you.

We invite you to write the editor. All letters will be considered for publication. Concise, typewritten letters related to public matters are preferred. Also include your telephone number(s). Letters should be addressed to: Letters to the Editor, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, 422 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23261, or faxed to: (804) 643-7519 or e-mail: letters@richmondfreepress.com.

face. We have a responsibility to advocate for all Virginians and must take care not to fall into economic, health care and political traps that leave minority communities behind.

Delegate Carroll Foy represents the 2nd District in the House of Delegates that includes parts of Prince William and Stafford counties.

Dr. Jones Webb is assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Hilton-Buchholz is assistant professor of critical care at the University of Virginia.

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Richmond Free Press

April 23-25, 2020 A7

Letters to the Editor

No time for Sisyphus leadership The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world much devastation, with a climbing death rate, grocery hoarding and lack of community closeness. However, it also has given us many heroes through their selfless acts.

It’s certainly not a time for gazing into a crystal ball, asking questions of an old-school eight ball or drawing plans on an Etch-A-Sketch. It’s a time for forgetting differences and actually creating the hands we all learned to do as children — by turning our palms upside down, entwining our fingers and building a church for all the people of the world.

Cure needed for evil virus of racism

Instead of actions of the normal Sisyphus leadership — wasting energy rolling the same boulder up the same hill obtaining similar results — now would be the perfect time for a new breed of leader to examine better ways of building bridges for a world of togetherness.

Neither a Republican nor a Democrat myself, this is election year 2020 and the year to decide which candidate would be the architect in creating that leadership style.

The country is clouded with a virus that knows no time.

Racism is its name.

No scientist can cure it. It came in 1619 and has been hanging around since then.

A cure was supposed to happen in 1865. But then came the lynchings and burning black people alive. Jim Crow laws kept the virus alive. Beating up and gunning down black people on the streets of Southern cities became a non-punishable crime.

In June 1921, Tulsa, Okla., became a horrible crime scene.

More than 300 black people were murdered by evil white mobs. Their bodies were buried in mass graves while their businesses and homes were destroyed.

In 1953, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered by very evil white men. Black churches and black homes have been bombed to further feed this evil, man-made virus.

In the 1960s, we were offered a cure. His name was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As he stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and spoke of a beautiful dream, many Americans — black people and white people — loved his vision.

Then came April 4, 1968, when the evil virus struck again.

Dr. King is in heaven, but his words and dream are still here on Earth.

Reach for the cure so that the evil virus of racism does not keep spreading and claiming more victims.

RICK KNIGHT Henrico County

Thoughts on identifying asymtomatic spread of COVID-19 In order to systematically detect the presence of an invisible asymptomatic pathogen like COVID-19, you must deploy a multilayered systematic approach to identifying the problem and eradicating it.

The easiest way to detect asymptomatic infection and monitor ongoing asymptomatic transmission is to give everyone a flu test repeatedly every two to three weeks. Flu tests are ubiquitously available. I call it the “fog the mirror” technique.

The first cases of coronavirus were detected not with COVID-19 tests, but with negatives of normal flu tests. Once you generally get a false on a standard flu test, you can funnel those samples into the less available COVID-19 tests. This technique will help you isolate and monitor invisible transmission and allow you to see the patterns.

In electronics, a person initially may detect a situation with a multimeter and then go forward with an oscilloscope for more accurate detail. However, when there are not enough oscilloscopes, you go back to using the multimeter to get you through.

If you initially came upon the coronavirus situation using a standard flu test, you can default to that test to narrow the testing criteria for the less available COVID-19 test. This also more accurately directs the virus testing better than current protocols because you don’t have to wait for severe symptoms to then administer the test, which is what you need to detect asymptomatic transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

NAOMI GAYLE SAUNDERS Richmond

J.R. STALLINGS Mineral

Suggestions to curb COVID-19 transmission at nursing homes I have been a medical professional, having completed an internal medicine and pulmonary fellowship, and was one of the first hospitalists in Hampton Roads until 2004. Since then, I have been the medical director for long-term care, or LTC, facilities and a hospice organization, practicing medicine to ensure the well-being of our aging population. Unfortunately, this population is the most vulnerable for having fatal outcomes from the coronavirus.

Statistics at several nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks have had very different results based on protective measures put in place.

Some facilities have had almost half of the residents and staff contract the virus, with death rates of 30 percent to 40 percent. Sadly, news articles are popping up daily, highlighting that 40 percent of the cases are from LTC facilities.

Leadership and decision making regarding medical issues are not predominately from medical professionals, but rather from administrators, lawyers and corporate or political leaders who worry too much about current regulations, lawsuits, bottom lines and appearances, and not enough about the well-being of the patients and the medical providers. Regrettably, our medical system requires balancing financial, legal and political risks with the health of patients and long-term residents. Tragically, during times of crisis, this mindset results in responses that are too little, too slow and too antiquated to be effective, resulting in lives lost.

With the onslaught of this indiscriminate, unforgiving and devastating viral disease, we do not have the luxury of time for a graduated response with ineffective actions. Now is the

time for medical providers to speak up and take a more active role in making decisions based on understanding how this virus is transmitted and how it kills once an infection occurs. The decisions being made daily by administrators must be focused on stopping the spread, preventing the infection and a clear separation of those who have it and who have potentially been exposed to the virus. Decisions should be informed primarily by medical, disease and crisis management professionals and should be open to innovative, “out-of-the-box” ideas, such as the use of cloth masks for everyone in public places.

The data from Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Henrico County showed that 50 percent were asymptomatic positive out of 105 residents, showing some will never know they were infected but will still be carriers of the disease and an unwitting vector to infect others. This is why we all need to be vigilant and protect each other by wearing masks and learning about infection control in public. Innovative thinking doesn’t have to be costly or dangerous. We do not yet know the overall fatality rate of this virus, but if it is one of your loved ones, the effect is the same as if it is 100 percent.

Sometimes innovation not informed by medical professionals can have unintended consequences. A perfect example is supporting local restaurants. With the development of drive-thru meal pickup, we still have risk of transmitting this virus. Medical personnel on one side of town are conducting drive-thru testing in full hazmat suits. Why aren’t drive-

thru, take-out personnel required to wear a face mask, face shield and goggles? Let’s prevent drive-thru infections.

Most importantly, due to the daily increase of COVID-19 cases, hospitals rapidly are running out of beds to house the ill. The hospitals’ response to this problem is to discharge patients believed to be COVID-19 free and send them to rehab and LTC facilities for continued care.

While this seems like a logical response to aid struggling hospitals, this decision puts LTC residents, staff and care providers at significant risk for contracting the virus.

Based on some of the early testing data, approximately 30 percent of negative test results should have been positive because the test is not accurate. If these statistics are true for discharged hospital patients, then it is not a matter of if but when an infected individual will get admitted into one of our facilities. Just like the wildfires spreading through California, a patient infected with coronavirus can cause devastation as the virus rolls through our LTC facilities. These people are not just patients.

They are our parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, our veterans and first responders who have dedicated their lives to protecting others.

And now they need to be protected.

It is better to quarantine patients coming from the hospital who have tested negative and who are presumed to be free of COVID-19 for a minimum of two weeks in a separate facility rather than being releasing them directly into the public or admitting them into long-term care facilities. This could be done several ways. Local empty hotels could be contracted to house

quarantined patients. We could set up medical units with displaced medical personnel from the medical offices that have closed or who have been furloughed. Additionally, many hospitals have reduced staff hours due to a decrease in elective surgical procedures. Local hospitals could support such an effort from their reserve funds as well as city services emergency funds.

If hospitals still insist on sending patients to LTC facilities, then at least place isolation trailers in the facility parking lots to keep the patients separated. LTC facilities are not set up to be isolation units, nor are they designed to handle droplet vectors that can become airborne respiratory disease with nebulizer treatments like COVID-19. The close quarters, shared ventilation system, lack of isolation facilities and multiple comorbidities of our elders make LTC facilities a tinderbox, waiting for a spark to ignite another nursing home wildfire. Let’s not add the spark to start it.

I am pleading with community members to call your elected officials to seriously consider some of these suggestions to protect our elderly family members before the situation continues to worsen.

With your help, we can make a difference.

DR. JAMES J. HATCHER CHRISTINA HOLLOWAY Virginia Beach Dr. Hatcher is a pulmonologist/internal medicine specialist, who is medical director of two nursing homes in Virginia Beach as well as a hospice company.

Ms. Holloway is a family nurse practitioner who works with Dr. Hatcher at the two facilities.

Safety first in watching out for pedestrians This is a request to skateboarders and electric scooter riders: Please slow down, watch out for pedestrians and give plenty of alert to people you are passing.

On Sept. 17, my brother was walking across the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge in Downtown. He was enjoying some of the historical signs that were embedded in the bridge. Suddenly he heard, “On your right,” and less than a second later, he was run over by a passing skateboarder, a man in his late 20s. My brother was knocked to the ground.

After making sure my brother was “all right,” the skateboarder went on his way with a, “Sorry dude.”

It is assumed because he has no memory of the event, my

brother must have hit his head on the railing of the bridge.

He was so dazed. He was not aware of how badly he was injured. He ended up in a local emergency room that day, with a severe concussion.

Unfortunately, the CAT scan they took did not show a slow brain bleed. Five weeks later, my brother started to show stroke-like symptoms. The bleed was very large by then. He just got home from two hospital stays in intensive care and finally had brain surgery to drain and clean out the bleed. As he recovers, he is now having seizures and will need to be on anti-seizure medication for an undetermined amount of time.

He can no longer drive and will need to take a possible early retirement. All this because of one person’s carelessness to

slow down and give a timely, audible alert, when approaching an unaware pedestrian.

With electric scooters, skateboards, hover-boards, bikes and other fast-moving transportation, please remember it is your responsibility to watch for people on foot. This has been a devastating accident for our family to go through. The neurosurgeon said my brother was lucky to still be walking the planet.

We hope this letter will be a reminder for safety, operator responsibility and following the posted laws.

SHAWNA GOTTFREDSON Twin Falls, Idaho

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Richmond Free Press

A8 April 23-25, 2020

Sports Stories by Fred Jeter

Former John Marshall player Isaiah Todd jumps from high school to pros Petersburg native Moses Malone pioneered the term “Preps to Pros” in August 1974.

Now former Richmonder Isaiah Todd is a pacesetter in a new option to bypass college basketball and fast break straight from high school to dunking for dollars.

Todd, who led Richmond’s John Marshall High School to the State 3A title in 2018, has declined a scholarship to the University of Michigan to enter the NBA and G-League’s Pathway Program.

The 6-foot-10 forward, who played during the last two seasons in North Carolina, will play the 2020-21 season with a Southern California entry into the G-League, which serves as the NBA’s subsidized minor league.

Joining Todd in this decision is Californian Jalen Green, who has signed for $500,000.

Green was headed to either Auburn University or the University of Memphis before choosing cash over classes.

Todd’s contract terms remain undisclosed, but it is reasonable to assume the figures are in the same ritzy financial neighborhood as Green’s.

The Pathway Program was introduced in October 2018, but no high schoolers signed up. At the time, the maximum salary was just $125,000.

In addition to salary, the elite GLeaguers also may benefit from endorsements and public appearances, which are not allowed by the NCAA. Also, G-League athletes will have no limitations on polishing their skills Moses Malone and preparing for lucrative NBA pacts.

In college, academics and NCAA regulations limit gym time.

The idea is to be paid well — certainly by teenage standards — this year, then really hit the financial upper strata in 2021 as a lottery or high first round NBA draftee.

The question is will other high schoolers follow? Will the crème de la crème of high schoolers opt for Pathway rather than to Big Man On Campus status?

The NBA now requires a prospect to be one year removed from high school and at least 19 years old. A few players in the past have chosen pro teams overseas as another option

Other high school players making the jump Players going straight from high school to the NBA have been overwhelmingly African-American.

Of the 41 high school players drafted between 1975 and 2005, 40 were African-American.

The lone exception was Robert Swift of Bakersfield, Calif., who was taken in round one by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2004.

The last high school player drafted was Amir Johnson of Los Angeles by the Detroit Pistons in 2005.

Following the 2005 season, the NBA implemented a rule that athletes had to be one year removed from high school to be eligible.

There have been recent exceptions.

Satnam Singh, who played high school basketball at IMG Academy in Florida, and Thon Maker, who played high school ball in Martinsville, Va., and later Canada, were drafted out of high school by essentially repeating their senior years.

Singh, picked by the Dallas Mavericks in 2015, is of Indian ancestry. Maker, a native of South Sudan, picked by the Milwaukee Bucs in 2016, went directly to the NBA from high school in Orangeville, Ontario.

Isaiah Todd

— a challenging adventure for players so young.

College hoops, with all the TV coverage and adulation, is more glamorous. The Pathway pays better.

Will the likes of Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Trae Young, etc., begin to bypass “one and done” NCAA hoops, meaning they play collegiately as freshmen then enter the NBA? Of course the governing bodies could nix the entire G-League Pathway project by making high school seniors eligible for the draft, like before 2006. But there has been much foot-dragging in that regard.

In 1974, after leading Petersburg High to consecutive state titles, Malone pulled a shocker by opting out of a University of Maryland scholarship to sign with the ABA Utah Stars for a five-year, $1 million deal.

It certainly worked for Malone. As a rookie, he averaged 19 points and 15 rebounds and was ABA Rookie of the Year. From there, he went on to become one of the NBA’s all-time stars.

Will Todd and Green, the most recent “Preps to Pros,” enjoy similar success on the court and/or at the bank?

If so, look for more and more of the high school elite to pass on a cramped desk in calculus class for a seat in a shiny Mercedes-Benz.

Think of groundbreaker George Taliaferro during NFL draft George Taliaferro was a game changer regarding the NFL draft.

He also took versatility to a higher level.

From 1937 when the NFL draft began, until 1949, every player selected was Caucasian.

A three-time All-American out of Indiana University, Taliaferro was the first African-American drafted when his name was called in the 13th round of the 1949 draft by the Chicago Bears.

The draft would never be the same.

Nowadays, more than half of the athletes selected are African-American.

Later, Taliaferro, who died in 2018 at age 91, drew attention for something else. It is widely agreed he is the most versatile performer in NFL history.

He provided whatever was needed, playing seven distinctly different positions — quarterback, running back, wide receiver, punter, punt returner, kickoff returner and defensive back.

In a pro career spanning from 1949 to 1955, he sparkled, passing for 1,633 yards, rushing for 2,266 and receiving for 1,300.

On special teams, he had 5,998 yards in kickoff returns and 319 in

Weldon Edwards

Safe at home The 2020 NFL draft will be held Thursday, April 23, through Saturday, April 25, with seven rounds and 255 players selected.

Originally, the event was set for Paradise, Nev., but those plans were scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Forget all the usual theatrics and draftees hugging Commissioner Roger Goodell at the podium.

Instead, the event will be held virtually, via phone and internet, with each of the 30 teams selecting from a home base.

Sharing TV coverage of the draft will be ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network and CBS.

punt returns. He averaged 38 yards for his own punts.

Defensively, he had four interceptions and 35 forced fumbles, 27 of which he recovered himself.

That type of versatility would be unheard of in today’s much more specialized NFL. There is a local connection of sorts.

In 1946, following his sophomore year at Indiana, he was drafted into the Army and served 16 months at Fort Lee — then Camp Lee — in Prince

George County.

Although he was the first AfricanAmerican drafted by a pro team, he did not go immediately to the NFL. Instead, he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dons of the rival AllAmerica Football Conference. His feeling was that the NFL’s history of bigotry would deny him a fair shot.

In 1950, the AAFC and the NFL merged.

Taliaferro played in 1949 with the Dons, 1950-51 with the New York Yankees, 1952 with the Dallas Texans,

1953-54 with the Baltimore Colts and 1955 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

Selected later in the same 1949 draft was Wally Triplett, picked in the 19th round by the Detroit Lions. A halfback out of Penn State, Triplett became first African-American draftee to actually play in the NFL. Undrafted free agents had played previously.

A few other draft notables: •Syracuse University running back Ernie Davis was the first African-

American picked first overall, by the Washington NFL team in 1962.

• Defensive end Claude Humphrey, from Tennessee State University, was the first player from an HBCU to be picked in the first round. Humphrey was the No. 3 overall selection by the Atlanta Falcons in 1968.

• Ed “Too Tall” Jones, a defensive end from Tennessee State, was the first player from an HBCU picked first overall, by the Dallas Cowboys in 1974.

Now back to Taliaferro.

While attending Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., the stellar athlete lived off campus with a black family. African-American students were not allowed to live in school dormitories.

He’d had all he could take one day when he went to a downtown movie theater and spotted a “Colored” sign pointing up to the balcony.

“I removed the two screws and took the sign down,” he said. “Then I watched the movie downstairs.”

Mr. Taliaferro kept that sign all his life so as not to forget history and also as an incentive to reach for the stars.

Weldon Edwards planted seeds as first black football player 50 years ago at UR

“Last August the University of Richmond signed its first Negro football player, Weldon Edwards,” so wrote Mark Holpe of The Collegian, UR’s campus newspaper, in 1970.

There’s now a lengthy list of AfricanAmerican football players to have suited up for the University of Richmond.

But that list started with Weldon Edwards 50 years ago.

Coming out of Richmond’s Maggie L. Walker High School, Edwards had the right blend of size, speed and academics to convince UR Coach Frank Jones to break the color line at the campus.

Other schools courting Edwards were Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania from the Ivy League, as well as the University of Nebraska, Temple University and as far off as the University of Hawaii.

Edwards borrowed on his mother Amanda’s wisdom to make the groundbreaking choice.

“My mother worked at the Rotunda Club in the Jefferson Hotel and she knew a lot of UR people,” Edwards recalled. “She felt UR was the right school for me. Plus, she didn’t want me to go far from home.”

That same year, UR signed two more AfricanAmerican athletes, Carlton Mack for basketball and Norman Williams for track and field.

Because football came before hoops and track, Edwards, wearing the No. 22 jersey, was the first African-American player to wear UR’s red, white and blue colors.

“I went from an all-black high school to an all-white college,” Edwards recalled.

After spending the 1970 football season on the freshmen team (freshmen weren’t eligible

for varsity at the time), Edwards broke onto Coach Jones’ varsity with a bang, scoring two touchdowns in the 1971 season opener against the University of North Carolina.

Then came a cold slap of adversity.

In the Sept. 25, 1971, game against West Virginia University in Morgantown, Edwards suffered a major knee injury that would require total reconstruction.

“That one play changed my whole life,” he recalled.

Edwards missed the rest of the 1971 season and later was converted to defensive back, a position he excelled at but didn’t prefer.

“Coaches were looking out for my health.

They were afraid I was hurt for life,” Edwards said. “They thought they were doing me a favor, but I didn’t see it that way. I had my speed back and wanted to run the ball.”

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds, Edwards proved he had regained his speed by winning the Southern Conference 60-yard dash indoors in 1972. That earned him a berth in the NCAA Division I Nationals that year in Detroit.

While his three varsity seasons at UR didn’t go as planned, he still made some lifetime friends and was hired by Coach Jim Tait, who succeeded Coach Jones, as an assistant for three seasons. u The campus social life wasn’t ideal, Edwards recalled.

His first assigned roommate, who was from Florida, declined to share a dorm room with Edwards.

Rick Newell from Indiana then volunteered to room with Edwards, and the men became

close friends.

“I went to a frat party once with other football players, but I could tell they didn’t want me there,” he said.

“On weekends, I mostly went to Virginia State, Virginia Union and VCU to party.”

Edwards mostly stuck to football and his books, earning a bachelor’s in sociology. u At Maggie L. Walker, Edwards starred in football and track for the Green Dragons under Coach Cannonball Cooper.

On the cinders, he posted personal bests of 9.5 seconds for 100 yards, 21.0 for 220 yards and 22 feet, 11 inches for the long jump.

He came along at the same time as two of the state’s premier all-time sprinters, Kent Merritt of Lane High School in Charlottesville and John Marshall High School’s Barney Cobb.

Edwards went on to compete in the National Junior Olympics in San Diego, which accounts for the nationwide recruitment directed his way. u Having fully healed from the knee surgery, Edwards had serious tryouts with Birmingham of the World Football League and the NFL team in Washington.

A car accident in which he re-injured the knee dealt his gridiron career another setback in 1974. u Edwards’ extreme athleticism led to him taking up other adult sports. He developed into a feared power hitter for some of the area’s top

softball teams, most notably Virginia Roofing.

That talented squad also featured Frank Dark and William Dillon, former VUU football players, and Gene Cunningham, a former basketball player for Norfolk State.

Quickly adjusting to flag football, he was a break-away runner for some elite squads, including South Slope and the MCV Drillers with former NFL and UR standout Ray Easterling. u Edwards has spent most of his adult life in auto sales. He is now in his 14th year at The Auto Connection on Midlothian Turnpike. Previously, he was a sales manager at Richmond Ford. u African-American athletes have become marquee attractions for UR football. Tim Hightower, Shawn Barber, Brian Jordan, Barry Redden, Lawrence Sidbury, Leland Melvin and Arman Shields, among others, used UR as a springboard to the NFL. But for anything to grow, a seed must be planted.

Don’t forget, it was Weldon Edwards who planted the seed of diversity at the University of Richmond.

April 23-25, 2020 B1

Richmond Free Press

Section

Happenings

B

Personality: Shantell J. Chambliss Spotlight on board president of the nonprofit Oakwood Arts Inc.

WWW.WALLERJEWELRY.COM

Occupation: Executive director, Dress for Success Central Virginia; principal consultant, Nonprofitability; and adjunct professor, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business Date and place of birth: Nov. 8 in Richmond.

Current residence: Varina.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004; MBA, Strayer University, 2009; and Ph.D. in organization and management, Capella University, 2015.

Family: Husband, Jesse; and children, Jesse III, Kendall and Jayden.

No. 1 volunteer position: President of the board of directors, Oakwood Arts Inc. When and why Oakwood Arts Inc. was founded: Oakwood Arts sprang to life in the early months of 2017 when founder and executive director Shannon Castleman drove by an abandoned church on the corner of 35th and P streets. She knew that a community arts center in the heart of the East End, where there was a deficit of comprehensive arts programming, would expose kids and teens to digital arts technology, teach valuable technical skills

pathway for students interested in pursuing creative careers.

way in creative industries and expose and encourage middle and high school students and emerging professionals from Richmond’s East End to pursue viable careers in creative and media arts fields such as film, photography, graphic design, editing, animation and costume design.

that could lead to careers in creative industries, and in turn help address the lack of diversity in those fields. It would also open up opportunities for VCUarts students and recent graduates to share their skills with an underserved community while gaining valuable teaching experience. Within a few short months, Oakwood Arts was off the ground. Oakwood Arts immediately set about establishing partnerships with other neighborhood organizations, including the Peter Paul Development Center, Blue Sky Fund, Anna Julia Cooper School, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, with all of whom we continue to partner.

My role with Oakwood Arts: As board president, my primary role is to work alongside the executive director to lead the development and refinement of our impact metrics, the cultivation of grants and individual gifts and to help ensure the board’s directives, policies and resolutions are carried out.

What Oakwood Arts means to me: Oakwood Arts physically sits at the end of the street where my grandparents lived and where my uncle still resides. The Oakwood neighborhood is a part of me and Oakwood Arts is providing a service that the children in this neighborhood have never had access to. Ensuring that Oakwood children have a safe space to express their creativity and pursue creative careers is a dream come true.

Oakwood Arts mission: To make art and careers in creative industries accessible to all through community engagement, inspiring programming and experiential education.

No. 1 objective: To create an education-employment path-

Number of young people in Oakwood Arts program: Since 2017, 297 youths have participated in our semesterlong programs and/or weeklong intensives, and 39 of our students have participated in more than one of our art and tech programs. Fifty-nine college students and recent graduates have served as program mentors or volunteers, and we have engaged more than 1,766 community members in arts and tech activities at more than 40 events.

Strategy for achieving it: We achieve this objective primarily through two programs. Our Arts & Technology Program for middle and high school students from the East End comprise semesterlong classes and weeklong intensives that focus on the digital and technical skills students need to succeed in the creative workforce.

We partner with East Endbased schools, social service organizations, cultural institutions and leaders in the city’s corporate and creative industries to offer classes such as photography, graphic design, costume design and digital storytelling. Classes give students the opportunity to use state-ofthe-art equipment and software, explore career opportunities and develop their individual creative voice and include field trips, one-on-one mentoring and networking opportunities with local creative professionals.

Our mentorship program allows us to provide handson opportunities to prepare college-age creative professionals to pursue creative careers through valuable field experience — each Arts & Technology Program is led by a lead mentor and assistant mentors — professional training and networking opportunities with industry professionals who can assist them in entering the creative workforce. Five Oakwood Arts mentors already have gone on to positions in creative industries, including graphic design, creative advertising and film based on the connections they made through our organization.

We could do more if: We had a reliable, steady stream of monthly income. This would ensure we are able to plan our programs far in advance, serve more students and, perhaps most importantly, mentor individual students throughout their time in middle and high school and beyond.

How Oakwood Arts is financed: Oakwood Arts relies almost entirely on contributed income. We receive a small portion of our funding from our wonderful partner organizations to help support our programs and ensure they are free for our participants. More than 95 percent of our funding comes from individual donors from our community, local foundations and corporations, and our major auction fundraising event, Solstice, which usually takes place in June.

What it takes to become an Oakwood Arts volunteer: We are always looking for new volunteers to help with everything from graphic design to staffing events. If you’re interested, email our programs coordinator at jessica@oakwoodarts.org to tell us how you would like to be involved.

Oakwood Arts’ COVID-19 response is: Providing new creative programs that children, teens and their families can do at home. Our primary new initiative is the Oakwood Arts Activity Kits. We started this when Richmond Public Schools closed to help mitigate some of the trauma students were experiencing as a result of the pandemic, as well as to help students stay engaged with their curriculum and connected to their school community and peers.

Each art activity kit includes enough supplies for two weeks of creative and educational prompts for K-5 children and teens. The prompts also are posted weekly on our website and Instagram. We are working with a RPS arts educator to ensure that each week’s

What Oakwood Arts does for young people: We aim to provide not only high-quality and engaging arts and media arts classes and technical training for students and emerging creative professionals, but also to give them the tangible professional training and networking opportunities that are so vital to entering creative careers. Our goal is to respond to the challenges presented by the absence of creative skills development in many public schools, provide a richer educational experience and a viable education-employment

prompts touches on Standards of Learning, and highlights a different creative career. We also are encouraging the children to post their activities to our Instagram or send to our website. We give out the kits and art prompts every week at different RPS food distribution sites. So far, we have distributed more than 200 kits.

RPS has been a great partner and excited about our work, and we are just now embarking on a new partnership with the Visual Arts Center, so together we’ll be able to streamline and expand the initiative quickly. Our plan is to continue the partnership with the Visual Arts Center through the end of the school year on June 8. But Oakwood Arts intends to keep the kits going until the fall, at least, with a focus on our families in the East End. We also have moved some of our regular programs fully online. The first one is Photo Mondays, which is a club that usually meets weekly. Instead, we have put all prompts online and post a new activity each Monday on our Instagram. We are still targeting children and teens, but the virtual format actually works nicely because these are also fun for adults to try.

Upcoming projects: As our regular programs are on hiatus indefinitely as a result of the pandemic, we are working hard to move all our programs online and to create new ways to continue to serve our community.

How I start the day: In prayer and gratitude.

If I had more time, I would: Study cultural anthropology, specifically religious beliefs, behaviors and institutions.

Quote that I am inspired by: “The weak can never forgive.

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”— Mahatma Gandhi Kindergarten taught me: That naps really are necessary.

Best late-night snack: Fruit Loops and milk. Cereal tastes so much better at night!

Something I love to do that most people would never imagine: I love to sew and actually earned an associate degree in fashion before moving in to business management.

The person who influenced me the most: My mother.

Book that influenced me the most: “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison.

What I’m reading now: “The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution”

by David La Piana.

Next goal: To help lead Oakwood’s redevelopment of the space at 3511 P St.

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brushes, markers, glue sticks and liquid glue. The kits are delivered to students through Richmond Public Schools food distribution sites, with students and families getting two weeks worth of creative and educational activities put together by community educators and artists. The activities also touch on some of the Standards of Learning and slip in information on various careers in related creative fields.

During the pandemic, Oakwood Arts has had to adjust its programming to an online format for youngsters. When the pandemic is over, some of those classes will remain online, Dr. Chambliss says.

With restrictions in place statewide, Oakwood Arts’ planned restoration of the Thomas Branch Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church into a new headquarters has been put on hold — for now.

But Dr. Chambliss is undeterred, committed to providing East End’s youths an accessible, creative learning opportunity.

“Ensuring that Oakwood children have a safe space to express their creativity and pursue creative careers is a dream come true.”

Meet an advocate who successfully merges her creative side with her business side and this week’s Personality, Shantell J. Chambliss.

may God forever

At the end of East Broad Street in the Oakwood neighborhood is Oakwood Arts Inc., a nonprofit focused on teaching creative skills to youths, building new career opportunities and increasing diversity across multiple fields.

For the children of the neighborhood, Oakwood Arts is an avenue to learn and grow, even during a pandemic.

For the nonprofit’s board president, Dr. Shantell J. Chambliss, Oakwood Arts is a way to serve an area that continues to be a large part of her life and that of her family. Her grandparents lived just down the street from Oakwood Arts and her uncle still lives there.

“The Oakwood neighborhood is a part of me and Oakwood Arts is providing a service that the children in this neighborhood have never had access to,” Dr. Chambliss says.

Through a variety of semester-long classes and weeklong intensives, middle and high school students have fun while learning skills in photography, graphic design, costume design and digital storytelling. Students get to use state-of-theart equipment and software, explore career opportunities and develop their individual creative voice. They take field trips and have mentoring and networking opportunities with local creative professionals.

Oakwood Arts began in early 2017, the creation of executive director Shannon Castleman, who came up with the idea after driving past Thomas Branch Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of 35th and P streets in the East End. Seeing the potential for an East End community arts center that would provide arts education for children and teens and teaching experience for VCUarts students and recent graduates, Ms. Castleman got to work.

Dr. Chambliss got involved with Oakwood Arts initially as part of her work with the consulting firm, Nonprofitability. Starting in late 2017 and spanning about seven months, she helped the new nonprofit develop a strong internal structure.

“I immediately fell in love with the mission,” Dr. Chambliss says. “After our client relationship ended, I was moved to stay involved with the organization and applied to join the board of directors.”

She joined the board in January 2019 and was elected board president that September. Her term runs for two years.

Since Oakwood Arts’ founding, nearly 300 students and almost 60 college students and recent graduates have been part of the nonprofit’s programs.

“Our goal is to respond to the challenges presented by the absence of creative skills development in many public schools, provide a richer educational experience and a viable education-employment pathway for students interested in pursuing creative careers,” Dr. Chambliss says.

The gaps in school programs have only become wider during the coronavirus pandemic. But even during this time, Oakwood Arts staff, mentors and volunteers have been busy putting together more than 200 art kits for youngsters in the Richmond community that are packed with various art supplies, such as crayons, color pencils, watercolor paint sets and paint

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B2 April 23-25, 2020

Happenings

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Dr. Erich Bruhn, a general surgeon from Winchester, and his wife, Kristin Bruhn, a nurse who works in her husband’s practice, wear masks as they walk among protesters on Broad Street in Downtown with their own message of safety against the virus.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Leon Smith gets a nasal swab test for COVID-19 during Wednesday’s testing event in South Side. The health districts are offering free testing for the uninsured or underinsured in targeted neighborhoods.

Timeout for COVID-19

There was an eruption of coronavirusrelated activity on Wednesday as the Virginia General Assembly met in a reconvened session to consider the governor’s vetoes and amendments to legislation.

In an effort to stay safe and adhere to social distancing guidelines, the House of Delegates met outdoors under tents, while the Senate conducted its business several miles away at cavernous space at the Science Museum of Virginia.

Protesters with Re-Open Virginia held

a vehicle parade along Broad Street near the Science Museum and Capitol Square, urging — with horns honking and waving signs — that Virginia reopen for business and the coronavirus lockdown be eliminated.

Meanwhile, the Richmond and Henrico health districts held a walk-up COVID-19 testing event at Southwood Apartments in South Richmond, as African-Americans continue to be infected and die with the virus in disproportionate numbers.

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Jarome Bell of Virginia Beach, a conservative who is running in the Republican primary for the 2nd District congressional seat, participates in the Re-Open Virginia rally. He said it’s time for people to get back to work.

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Police flank a protester walking along Broad Street near 8th Street. Many of the protesters had flags and Trump signs.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

A woman walks with her sign as traffic on Broad Street comes to a standstill.

Noted reggae musician Drummie Zeb returns to his Richmond roots

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Inspired by the vibrations from the marching bands at the Richmond Christmas Parade, 10-year-old Ernest Myron Williams begged his mother for a set of drums. She scrimped and saved to provide one.

Fifty years later, that small skinny kid, now known as Drummie Zeb, has turned that initial drum set into a fabulous music career that has taken him around the world.

He has played and recorded with the likes of music legend Paul Simon, country music star Kenny Chesney and the worldrenowned reggae group, The Wailers.

“Who would have thought that could happen to someone from Fairfield Court?” Drummie Zeb said during an interview last week from his Church Hill home. “It is almost unbelievable.”

Public housing and the East End of Richmond often get the most attention for crime and poverty, but to Drummie, too little mention is made of the rich musical and cultural heritage as well as the people, like himself, who exemplify that part of the area’s story.

He wishes Richmond would offer the same public recognition for composers, songwriters and performers who have left their mark on the musical world as that accorded to pro athletes who got their start in the city.

Known for his informal dress, dreadlocks and thousand-watt smile, Drummie said he grew up aspiring to have the kind of professional career enjoyed by his Richmond drumming idols and mentors whom he thinks have been forgotten in their hometown. They include Jerome E. “Bigfoot” Brailey, a longtime performer with Parliament Funkadelic who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Elwood Henderson, who performed with The Jimmy Castor Bunch.

As it turns out, Drummie achieved that goal as his résumé as a musician shows.

Turned on by Bob Marley and his syncopated Jamaican music, Drummie Zeb was born after he started teaching himself reggae beats. (Zeb is short for Zebulon, the middle name he

Jeremy M. Lazarus/Richmond Free Press

Drummie Zeb, an East End native who has made his mark in the music scene, does what he does best at his home in Church Hill.

adopted after the start of his professional career.

That career began when friend and guitarist Ras Mel Glover invited him in 1979 to Awareness Art Ensemble, a Richmond reggae group started by Jamaican transplant Olamina Ridley. The group proved wildly popular and was active for 13 years.

After the group largely fell apart, Drummie Zeb created his own group, Razor Posse, which allowed him keep playing the music he loved full time.

In 1999, his group got a chance to open for The Wailers

during an appearance at Brown’s Island in Downtown. Drummie’s percussion skills left a lasting impression. When The Wailers needed a replacement drummer, he got the call, and suddenly was having eye-opening experiences performing at venues across the country and in South and Central America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

During the 16 years he played with The Wailers, Drummie said the group stayed incredibly busy, performing 200 days a year. He had other opportunities as well. He took part in Doctor Dread’s reggae album of Bob Dylan’s songs. And he was tapped to participate when Paul Simon recorded a reggae track and needed a drummer who could perform the music.

In 2008, Kenny Chesney went to Jamaica to record his hit “Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven” with The Wailers.

Mr. Chesney remembered Drummie Zeb when he wanted to mix reggae beats into his country music. Drummie said he moved to Nashville and toured with Mr. Chesney in the band for several years, free at Mr. Chesney’s direction to play the drums in reggae-style.

With touring gigs now on hold because of the coronavirus, Drummie is spending time at his home on Rogers Street. He’s engaged in what he calls long overdue improvements and also working on creating a reggae country album. He also is having a chance to catch up with musical friends, such as Zydeco tambourine player Shamatiyah Broady, and saxophone player James B. “Saxsmo” Gates Jr. Drummie said he would not have had such opportunities if his mother, Irma Williams Corprew, now retired from her longtime role as head cook at Armstrong High School, had not given him his start.

“I don’t know what would have happened to me if she had not gotten those drums,” he said. “After I joined The Wailers, I was able to buy her a house.”

He also credits Johnny Peyton, the late Richmond bandleader who also taught music at John F. Kennedy High School.

“He took me under his wing,” Drummie said, and taught him to read music. Mr. Peyton also appointed him drum captain in the marching band.

The father of six children, Drummie is proudly watching three of his sons follow his reggae drumming path. They are Nekoro Williams, 27, who drums with Splendid Suns after playing with the People’s Blues of Richmond; Amani Williams, 25, a roots reggae drummer who plays with Burning Fire; and Asanté Williams, who plays psychedelic reggae with Space Koi. Drummie also has a grandson, Amani’s child, who is learning to play.

For the future, Drummie said his goal is to spend more time in Richmond and work on recording projects, including one with Amani and Burning Fire.

“I have plenty to keep me busy,” he said. “As long as I have my drums and my children, life is good.”

Richmond Free Press

April 23-25, 2020

B3

Faith News/Obituaries/Directory

As Ramadan nears, prisons urged to accommodate faith needs during pandemic

Religion News Service

A coalition of 20 faith groups is pressing prison officials across the country to accommodate all prisoners’ religious needs during the outbreak of the coronavirus, particularly with Ramadan beginning this week.

“Prisons remain under an obligation to accommodate religious practice to the maximum extent possible, even as they act to mitigate the health crisis,” reads the letter that was sent to administrators of all federal and state prison systems.

“We remain deeply concerned that prisons will use this crisis as an excuse to deny basic religious accommodations to prisoners in their care.”

The letter, sent by the civil rights group Muslim Advocates, was signed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the National Council of Churches, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and other faith-based organizations.

While the groups argue for the release of as many prisoners as possible to mitigate the health crisis, they said prison administrators’ obligation to accommodate all prisoners’

religious practice — enshrined into law by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, passed

by Congress in 2000 — is more critical than ever.

“Maintaining the ability to practice one’s faith is particularly important during the current crisis, as people are forced to confront potential exposure to a deadly illness, the possible suffering and mortality of sick loved ones and acquaintances, and greater social isolation and economic hardship,” the groups wrote.

The groups stated access to religious diets, religious articles, worship services and spiritual counselors is at risk of being denied during the pandemic, as are special accommodations required for Muslims observing Ramadan.

The holy month, marked by dawnto-sunset fasts every day, will begin on Friday, April 24. The groups have asked prison administrators to provide adequate meals and any necessary medication outside of daylight hours, and that officials accommodate the additional taraweeh evening prayers.

In Virginia prisons, Muslims have alleged they were not served breakfast before sunrise and received their dinner meals late during Ramadan. Some immigration detainees have said they have been arbitrarily denied placement on a “Ramadan list,” which they must be included on in order to fast, and have been denied prayer rugs, copies of the Quran and halal meals. Others have said they were served leftover meals that were cold or rotten after sitting for hours out in the open.

A report published by Muslim Advocates last year found that Muslim prisoners are significantly overrepresented in state prisons. About 9 percent of the total state prison population in the United States is Muslim, while only about 1 percent of U.S. residents are Muslim.

About 12 percent of federal prisoners self-identify as Muslim. Experts note the vast majority of incarcerated Muslims in the United States turn to the Islamic faith during their incarceration.

Last month, Muslim Advocates joined more than 150 groups asking elected officials and law enforcement to immediately reduce the prison population and protect incarcerated people from the outbreak.

“We have a duty to protect our most vulnerable citizens, and that includes the incarcerated,” Muslim Advocates

Andy Aitchison/Prison Image/Creative Commons

A Muslim prisoner prays inside his cell.

staff attorney Matt Callahan said at the time. “Without immediate action, prisons and jails can become virus tinderboxes that threaten the lives and well-being of everyone inside, as well as the community at large.”

David C. Driskell, noted artist, art historian, curator and collector, dies at 88 Free Press wire, staff report

David C. Driskell, one of the nation’s most influential African-American artists and a leading authority on black art, has died. He was 88.

His death was announced Saturday, April 4, 2020, by the University of Maryland, College Park, where he taught for 20 years and served for several years as chair of the Art Department.

The university established the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora in 2001 to honor Mr. Driskell as an artist, art historian, collector, curator and scholar.

Officials said he died as a result of the coronavirus.

Born in 1931 in Eatonton, Ga., Mr. Driskell grew up in North Carolina and attended Howard University where he studied art and history and was mentored by James A. Porter, commonly regarded as one of the first major AfricanAmerican art historians.

He completed a summer program at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine. He went on to earn a master’s in fine arts from Catholic University in 1962 and then did postgraduate studies at The Netherlands

Institute for the History of Art in He began a distinguished teachThe Hague. ing career at Talladega College in As a multimedia artist, he worked 1955. He also taught at Howard in a range of mediums and styles. and Fisk universities before joinHis work addressed a host of issues ing the faculty at the University of and themes, from apartheid in South Maryland in 1977.

Africa to jazz to abstract cosmoloOne of his students at Howgies. His most famous artwork may ard University was Dr. Levy M. be “Behold Thy Son,” a 1956 Armwood Jr., the longtime pastor painting which currently is in the and minister of music at Ebenezer collection of the National Museum Baptist Church in Richmond. When of African American History and Dr. Armwood died earlier this Mr. Driskell Culture in Washington. The work year, Mr. Driskell offered reflecis a reference to the murder of Emmett Till by tions during the Feb. 22 funeral at the Jackson white men for allegedly flirting with a white Ward church. woman in Mississippi.

“He was a great pioneer, quite a fine gentleAs a curator, Mr. Driskell’s famous exhibi- man and learned in the art world,” Dr. Lindley tion “Two Centuries of Black American Art: T. Smith, a Richmond ophthalmologist and art 1750–1950,” which opened at the Los Angeles collector who was the founding president of the County Museum of Art in 1976, is now con- former Friends of African and African-American sidered one of the most important surveys of Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, told African-American art. By framing the exhibit the Free Press. through a historical lens, he provided irrefutable Dr. Smith said Mr. Driskell came to Richmond proof to white-led American art institutions that and spoke to the group several times. He said he black artists had made significant contributions traveled to Maryland to meet with Mr. Driskell, to American art history and signaled an end to an avid art collector. His holdings included major their being ignored. pieces by Alma Thomas, James Van Der Zee,

Norman Lewis, Sam Gilliam, William T. Williams and many others. The collection was the subject of an exhibition at the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey in 2001.

“He told this great story about walking along in Denmark when he saw a hand-drawn portrait in the window of an antique shop,” Dr. Smith said.

“He bought it for maybe $2, and it turned out to be a $20 million portrait done by Rembrandt,” Dr. Smith laughed. “That comes from knowledge.

He knew what he was looking at.”

A 2002 article about Mr. Driskell estimated the value of the Rembrandt piece at $100,000.

Highly regarded for his scholarship and knowledge of art, he advised other collectors interested in the work of African-American artists.

He began advising actor Bill Cosby about art in 1976, with Mr. Cosby building a collection of more than 100 works through the years.

As an artist, Mr. Driskell was inspired by the trees around his Falmouth, Maine, cabin home and incorporated them as a feature in his work.

Mr. Driskell is survived by his wife, Thelma, and two daughters, Daviryne and Daphne.

A spokeswoman for the Driskell Center said services are not planned at this time because of concerns about the coronavirus.

Rev. Frank Lomax Jr., minister of stewardship at Quioccasin Baptist Church, dies at 89

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Mr. Roney

Yahoo Musica

Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney dies Free Press wire report

Award-winning jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney, who studied under and collaborated with the Miles Davis, Art Blakey and other jazz greats during his 40-year career, died Tuesday, March 31, 2020, of complications from COVID-19.

He had been admitted on March 25 to a Paterson, N.J., hospital, where he died. He was 59.

Born on May 25, 1960, in Philadelphia, Mr. Roney began playing the trumpet at age 5. By 12, he was part of the Philadelphia Brass, a classical brass quintet, where he studied under Clark Terry.

Music was his passion. He attended high school in Washington at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and later studied at Howard University and the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He became one of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, succeeding Terence Blanchard in a trumpet chair once occupied by Wynton Marsalis. He recorded several albums with drummer Tony Williams for Blue Note in the mid-1980s to early 1990s.

Mr. Roney also performed with Miles Davis, most famously at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival. The experience was immortalized in the documentary, “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool.”

He won a Grammy Award in 1994 for “A Tribute to Miles,” which was recorded with Mr. Williams and other surviving members of the Miles Davis Quintet.

He collaborated with many other artists throughout his career, including Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman and pianist Geri Allen, whom he married in 1995. The couple later divorced.

He recorded more than 20 albums as a band leader. The latest, “Blue Dawn-Blue Nights,” was released last year.

Survivors include his children, Barbara Roney and trumpeter Wallace Vernell Roney; a sister, Crystal Roney; his brother, jazz saxophonist Antoine Roney; two half-sisters; and a half-brother.

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ambassador” for the organization in presenting him with its Campbell-Wallace Achievement Award for Distinguished The Rev. Frank Lomax Jr. spent his working life as an auditor Service in 2015. for the Internal Revenue Service. But after retiring, he found his “In his low-key mode of operation, (Rev. Lomax) has led way into the ministry. every group or organization he is affiliated with to include Rev. Lomax’s work at Quioccasin Baptist Church, for the the MTM Foundation in their budget,” the foundation stated Baptist General Convention of Virginia and with the Ministering in its citation. “He is a loyal friend to ministers and an ardent to Ministers Foundation is being remembered following his death believer that healthy ministers help create healthy churches Friday, April 10, 2020, in Henrico County. He was 89. and that healthy churches create healthy communities.”

A memorial service celebrating his life will Rev. Lomax was not thinking of a career be scheduled at a later date. in ministry when he graduated from Virginia A Henrico County native and son of a minister, Randolph High School in Glen Allen. Instead, Rev. Lomax was 67 when he was ordained into he would soon be a soldier. the ministry at Quioccasin Baptist Church in With the Korean War raging, he was drafted Henrico, where he served as an associate pastor into the Army, serving in the Signal Corps and for more than 20 years and was best known as then with the 101st Airborne Division in Korea the minister of stewardship. and Japan.

Rev. Lomax also participated in other Christian After military service, he graduated from groups, including serving as instructor for the Smith-Madden Business College and found work BGCVA’s Department of Christian Education for with the Richmond office of the IRS, where he the Deacons Conference of Richmond and Vicinwas one of the first African-Americans to handle Rev. Lomax ity and at the Evans-Smith Institute of Church audits.

Leadership at Virginia Union University’s seminary.

Able to retire at age 55 after 30 years with the federal Rev. Lomax also represented Quioccasin Baptist Church government, he went back to school to take courses, first in the Tuckahoe Baptist Association of Virginia, where he at Virginia Union University and then at Virginia Commonearned such great respect that he was elected to a term as wealth University. moderator, or chair, of the organization.

Already long involved with Quioccasin Baptist Church, He also was a past president of the BGCVA’s Laymen’s he felt the call to ministry during his studies, and at age 65, Division. enrolled in VUU’s Evans-Smith Institute that offers a certifiIn 1995, while still in theology school, he became a charter cate program for lay leaders. board member of the newly organized Ministering to Ministers Rev. Lomax is survived by his wife of 68 years, Barbara C. Foundation, a support, counseling and advocacy group for Lomax; two children, the Rev. Frank Lomax III and Randi-Jo clergy of all faiths.

Lomax; a sister, Louise Pryor; three grandchildren; and five The foundation described Rev. Lomax as “an outstanding great-grandchildren.

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Richmond Free Press

B4 April 23-25, 2020

Faith News/Directory

Black clergy memorialize the dead; ask govâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. to address disparities

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

poor communities to providing masks to low-wage essential workers, prisoners and people The Rev. Frank Williams living in homeless shelters. has been so busy leading two The federal Centers for black churches in the New York Disease Control and Prevention borough of the Bronx that he recently released a March report hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really considered the full that showed 33percent of hosextent of COVID-19â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact pitalized patients in a 14-state on his congregation, his family study were African-American; and his community. comparatively, African-AmeriBut when asked, the South- cans constitute 13 percent of the ern Baptist pastor of U.S. population. two churches, each At least one historwith more than 200 ic black denomination members, realized has started a prelimiafter four weeks the nary tally of the toll list was long: of COVID-19.

The Saturday beBishop Gregory fore Easter, a beloved Ingram leads the Afdeacon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a decadesrican Methodist Epislong friend who had copal Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Rev. Williams been the property Episcopal District, manager, the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ministry which includes the hard-hit leader and the person who ran areas of New York, and asked the van ministry picking up se- presiding elders within it to niors for Bronx Baptist Church report what they knew about â&#x20AC;&#x201D; died from complications membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; health and economic related to COVID-19. statuses. An April 15 report Rev. Williamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wife, a hos- shows that throughout the pital residency coordinator, and district, which also includes his three children, all under the churches in states such as age of 12, have recovered from New Jersey and Delaware, 48 COVID-19 and he preached members have died, 258 have his first online sermons from the Psalms while quarantined.

The 47-year-old pastor helped the staff of Wake-Eden Community Baptist Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elementary school shift to remote learning and, Rev. Ingram Bishop Ingram as the need for food in the nearby community increased, been infected and 1,913 have worked to provide families with become unemployed as a result food that previously would have of COVID-19. been prepared for their children â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had one church that lost at a church day care. three members in one day,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The impact is very real for Bishop Ingram said, referring us, not just here in New York, to a congregation in Freeport, but very real for us as a congre- Long Island. gation,â&#x20AC;? said Rev. Williams, a Another of the deceased St. Kitts native whose churches from the AME denomination include black Americans and is Yonkers Pastor Scott Elijah, immigrants from Africa and who died in late March. He the Caribbean. was remembered not only by Across the country, black his small church but by Local clergy say the coronavirus is 100 of the Transport Workers touching â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and sometimes Union, which recalled his work taking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the faithful who, with NYC Transit in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lost until a month ago, were ac- to Coronavirusâ&#x20AC;? listing: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The customed to meeting weekly in entire Track Division is in their pews. Some are mourning mourning.â&#x20AC;? losses in the highest echelons Bishop Ingram and his wife, of their denomination. Others the Rev. Jessica Ingram, have are counting the dead, sick and been praying on 6 a.m. daily unemployed. calls with members of their And some African-American district and following up by pastors are joining forces to phone with church members demand the Trump administra- who have lost loved ones to tion and congressional leaders COVID-19. take action, ranging from setting â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is new territory for up testing sites in black and us,â&#x20AC;? said Rev. Ingram, who as

the episcopal supervisor for the district has been co-hosting Zoom meetings with leaders among the young adults, laity and pastors in the district. The training and study sessions have centered on topics ranging from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;new landscape of the churchâ&#x20AC;? to health disparities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have answers, so basically I just express my prayers for them and listen and let them know that we are here for them,â&#x20AC;? she said.

The Church of God in Christ, another historic black denomination, reportedly has lost close to a dozen of its bishops and other leadBishop ers to COVID-19, including Bishop Phillip Aquilla Brooks II, who was the Michigan-based first assistant presiding bishop. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The loss of such a respected visionary leader cannot be verbally expressed,â&#x20AC;? said COGIC Presiding Bishop Charles Blake in a video announcement that did not specify the cause of death for Bishop Brooks or the others. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know that the death of Michigan Bishop Brooks, Nathaniel Wells and so many others has caused great concern and great pain throughout the church, concern for our leaders and concern for the future of the church.â&#x20AC;?

After noting that he and his family were well, Bishop Blake spoke of divine pledges and the need to lean on God. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At this challenging time, I want you to remember that God has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church,â&#x20AC;? he said in the announcement on the homepage of the COGIC website. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m absolutely confident that God is going to bring us through this tough time together. We as people of faith must look to God and to the word of God as we have in challenging times past for hope and for encouragement.â&#x20AC;?

At a video news conference hosted April 15 by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and Repairers of the Breach, black clergy called on leaders at the White House and in Congress to provide more resources to African-Americans and to focus more on humanity than the economy.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Black people are more likely to be essential workers, keeping us safe and fed,â&#x20AC;? said the Rev. William J. Barber II of North Carolina, president of Repairers of the Breach. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But these are the very people the stimulus bill did not provide (with) the essentials of health care, living wages or even guarantee that no water would be shut off, while corporations in less than three weeks got $2.5 trillion.â&#x20AC;?

Clergy on the call spoke of praying over the phone with health care workers in their congregations who lack protective equipment and people who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Blake pay their rent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no sheltering in place when there is no shelter,â&#x20AC;? said Bishop Yvette Flunder, a San Francisco preacher affiliated with the Metropolitan Community Churches and who oversees a ministry site that provides food, medical and housing case management services.

The Rev. Traci Blackmon, a justice executive minister for the United Church of Christ and leader of a church north of St. Louis, said her congregation includes bus drivers, grocery workers and mail carriers. She said five of about 80 congregants tested positive for COVID-19 and three went to the hospital multiple times before they could get tested, thus exposing their households in the meantime. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I pastor people who are now seeking food for their children and for their families because those food services have had

Zion Baptist Church 2006 Decatur Street Richmond, VA 23224 zbcoffice@verizon.net

Dr. Robert L. Pettis, Sr., Pastor Sunday Service 10 a.m.

Church School 8:45 a.m.

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Good Shepherd Baptist Church 1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223 s Office: (804) 644-1402

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Dr. Sylvester T. Smith, Pastor â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A Place for Youâ&#x20AC;?

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Via Conference Call (515) 606-5187 Pin 572890# Also Visit Us On Facebook Sunday Service â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11:00 AM 2604 Idlewood Avenue Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 www.riverviewbaptistch.org Rev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett, Pastor Rev. Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. Pastor Emeritus

Broad Rock Baptist Church 5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 â&#x20AC;˘ 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m.

Pastor Kevin Cook

Sundays: All Sunday services have been suspended for the remainder of the month. Join us for online streaming this Sunday at 10 AM. Visit our WEBSITE, look under â&#x20AC;&#x153;/NLINE 3ERVICES,â&#x20AC;? and access the â&#x20AC;&#x153;0ASTOR S -ESSAGE.â&#x20AC;?

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Dr. Wallace J. Cook, Pastor Emeritus

Rev. Dr. Adam L. Bond, Pastor-Elect

Sunday School â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:45 AM Sunday Services â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11:00 AM

St. Peter Baptist Church

Ebenezer Baptist Church Ebenezer Baptist Church is suspending all regular activities and worship services indeďŹ nitely.

Please check our website, http://www.richmondebenezer.com or our Facebook page

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Due to the Corona All services Sunday SchoolVirus: ~ 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m. at Broad Rock Baptist Church 4th Sunday UniďŹ ed Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m. are until further notice.â&#x20AC;?

Biblecancelled, Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Worship Opportunities

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Due to the COVID-19 Corona Virus All regular activities have been suspended until further notice.

Visit https://youtu.be/qqzhnIEQyQc for inspirational messages from Pastor Smith

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to be suspended because of the The Rev. Adolphus Lacey, deaths of two bus drivers who pastor of Bethany Baptist Church died from COVID-19,â&#x20AC;? Rev. in Brooklyn, said last week that Blackmon said. his 900-member congregation The Rev. Frederick Haynes has had three confirmed COVIDIII, pastor of Friendship-West 19 deaths. He officiated at two Baptist Church in Dallas, opened funerals on one day â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one at the videoconference with an a Brooklyn funeral home and â&#x20AC;&#x153;appeal to those in power on one an hour-and-45-minute drive behalf of communities in pain away in New Jersey. and in grief.â&#x20AC;? In a separate Though familiar with the interview, he noted that black rites of death, Rev. Lacey community leadsaid wearing masks, ers who have been gloves and keeping concerned about ensocially distant has vironmental justice made the moments and health disparities of farewell even more now will have to see difficult. what more the black One funeral, for church can do. a popular usher, was â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are those carried out on Zoom of us who have been and so many wanted Rev. Haynes III fighting for that and to participate, some now we are upgrading our fight never got past the virtual waitbecause we are seeing that this ing room. country has proven that it does â&#x20AC;&#x153;The sad part, I said, he not have a desire to protect was at everybody elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fuus,â&#x20AC;? he said. neral. But when it came to News reports have indi- his funeral, nobody could be cated other examples of how there but just his family,â&#x20AC;? said the coronavirus has ended the Rev. Lacey, whose church is lives of longtime churchgo- affiliated with the Progressive ers and clergy from Loui- National Baptist Convention siana to Maryland to New Inc. and the National Baptist York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Harlem. A Pen- Convention U.S.A. Inc. tecostal pastor in Virginia, From his New York borough Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of north of Rev. Laceyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Rev. New Deliverance Evangelistic Williams spoke of his longtime Church outside Richmond, who faith helping him cope with the claimed â&#x20AC;&#x153;God is largerâ&#x20AC;? than sadness and hang on to hope. the coronavirus, succumbed â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are always people to it, his church announced. who experience loss and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s His widow, two daughters and the reality of grief,â&#x20AC;? Rev. Wilson-in-law are recovering from liams said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are experiencthe disease. ing that in the loss of our deacon Clergy tasked with memori- but we are still praying for alizing people who have died, Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preservation. And that often unexpectedly, say the really comes from Psalm 121, coronavirus has prompted un- where it says â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I will preserve characteristic changes in funeral you from all evil. I will preserve and burial traditions. your soul.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;?

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Richmond Free Press

April 23-25, 2020

B5

Legal Notices

Continued from previous column

To advertise in the

Richmond Free Press call

644-0496 Follow the Free Press on @FreePressRVA @RichmondFreePressUSA

City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the City of Richmond Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, May 4, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. and the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2020-100 To close, to public use and travel, a portion of an alley in the block bounded by East Canal Street, Foushee Street, Cary Street, and South 1st Street consisting of 680± square feet, upon certain terms and conditions.

Ordinance No. 2020-101 To close, to public use and travel, certain alleys in the block bounded

by East Jackson Street, North 8th Street, East Leigh Street, and North 7th Street consisting of 8,665± square feet, upon certain terms and conditions.

The meetings will be held through electronic communication means pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 2020093, adopted April 9, 2020. The meetings will be open to participation through electronic communication means by the public and closed to in-person participation by the public. Less than a quorum of Richmond City Planning Commission members and Richmond City Council will assemble in City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, and most members and other staff will participate by teleconference/ v i d e o c o n fe r e n c e v i a Microsoft Teams.

The meetings will be streamed live online at the following web address: https://r ichmondva. legistar.com/Calendar. a s p x . To w a t c h a meeting’s live stream at the web address provided, find and click the link that reads, “In Progress” in the farthest right hand column entitled, “Video”.

The agenda for the Richmond City Council meeting is accessible t h r o u g h t h e C i t y ’s legislative website at the following web address: https://r ichmondva. legistar.com/Calendar. aspx.To view the agenda at the web address provided, find and click the link that reads, “Agenda” associated with the May 11, 2020 Richmond City Council Formal meeting listed in the calendar.

Interested citizens who wish to speak at the Richmond City Council meeting will be given an opportunity to do so by following the “Formal Meeting Access and P u bl i c Pa r t i c i p a t i o n Instructions” attached to the May 11, 2020 Richmond City Council Formal meeting agenda.

Citizens are encouraged to provide their comments in wr iting to CityClerksOffice@ richmondgov.com in lieu of calling in. The person responsible for receiving comments in writing is Candice D. Reid, City Cler k. All comments received prior to 10:00 a.m. on Monday, May 11, 2020, will be provided to Council members prior to the meeting and will be included in the record of the meeting.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at http:// www.richmondgov.com/ CityClerk/index.aspx.

Candice D. Reid City Clerk City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, April 27, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2019-302 As Amended Continued on next column

To authorize the special use of the proper ty known as 1620 Park Avenue for the purpose of a multifamily dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions.

Ordinance No. 2020-095 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to accept funds in the amount of $297,414.00 from the Compensation Board for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to appropriate the grant funds received to the Fiscal Year 20192020 Special Fund Budget by increasing estimated revenues and the amount appropriated to the Circuit Court’s Technology Trust Fund special fund by $297,414.00 for the pur pose of providing funding for the Circuit Court marriage license preservation and access project in the city of Richmond.

Ordinance No. 2020-096 To amend City Code §§ 26-22, 26-27, and 26-29, concerning the City’s tax amnesty program, for the purpose of providing for a 2020 tax amnesty period.

Ordinance No. 2020-097 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to enter into a Facility Use Agreement between the City of Richmond and the American National Red Cross for the use of six Depar tment of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities’ community centers as shelters during disaster emergency situations.

Ordinance No. 2020-098 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute an Urban Project Constr uction Agreement between the City of Richmond and the Virginia Department of Transpor tation to provide funding for the design and construction of improvements to the interchange at Maury Street and I-95.

Ordinance No. 2020-099 To authorize the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to execute a Deed of Lease between DAR Enterprises, LLC, as lessor and the City of Richmond as lessee for the purpose of providing office and storage space for the Office of the General Registrar at 2134 West Laburnum Avenue.

This meeting will be held through electronic communication means pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 2020093, adopted April 9, 2020. This meeting will be open to participation through electronic communication means by the public and closed to in-person participation by the public. Less than a quorum of Richmond City Council will assemble in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, and most Council members and other staff will participate by teleconference/ v i d e o c o n fe r e n c e v i a Microsoft Teams.

The meeting will be streamed live online at the following web address: https://r ichmondva. legistar.com/Calendar. a s p x . To wa t c h t h e meeting’s live stream at the web address provided, find and click the link that reads, “In Progress” in the farthest right hand column entitled, “Video”.

The agenda for this meeting is accessible on the City’s legislative website at the following web address: https:// r i c h m o n d va . l e g i s t a r. com/MeetingDetail. aspx?ID=732220& GUID=98A1B05E14DE-4B5E-B3CE6BDD3D5E0C01& Search= Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so by following the instructions at the following web address: https:// richmondva.legistar.com/ LegislationDetail.aspx?I D=4418440&GUID=CAF 8AE01-FA95-4F67-AC4 2-44A8EAC96E6B&Opti ons=&Search=. Citizens are encouraged to provide their comments in writing to CityClerksOffice@ richmondgov.com in lieu of calling in. The person responsible for receiving comments in writing is Candice D. Reid, City Cler k. All comments received prior to 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 27, 2020, will be provided to Council members prior to the meeting and will be included in the record of the meeting.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at http:// www.Richmondgov.com.

Candice D. Reid City Clerk

City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, April 27, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2020-049 As Amended To adopt the General Fund Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated revenues for such fiscal year for the objects and purposes stated in such budget.

Ordinance No. 2020-050 As Amended To adopt the Special Fund Budgets for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Special Revenue funds for the said fiscal year.

Ordinance No. 2020-051 As Amended To accept a program of proposed Capital Improvement Projects fo r t h e f i s c a l y e a r beginning Jul. 1, 2020, and for the four fiscal years thereafter; to adopt a Capital Budget for the fiscal year beginning Jul. 1, 2020; and to determine the means of financing the same.

Ordinance No. 2020-053 As Amended To appropriate and to provide funds for financing the school budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021.

Ordinance No. 2020-054 To adopt the Debt Service Fund Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated expenditures from the Debt Service Fund for the said fiscal year.

Ordinance No. 2020-055 To adopt the Internal Service Fund Budgets for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Internal Service funds for the said fiscal year.

Ordinance No. 2020-056 To adopt the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities’ Richmond Cemeteries Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Richmond Cemeteries for the said fiscal year for the operation and management of the facilities.

Ordinance No. 2020-057 To adopt the Department of Public Works’ Parking Enterprise Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 20202021, and to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Department of Public Works’ Parking Enterprise Fund for the said fiscal year for the operation and management of parking facilities.

Ordinance No. 2020-058 To adopt the Electric Utility Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021; to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Electric Utility for the said fiscal year; and to make appropriations from the Electric Utility Renewal Fund or Operating Fund for renewing, rebuilding or extending the plant and distribution system of the Electric Utility and for the purchase of vehicles.

Ordinance No. 2020-059 As Amended To adopt the Gas Utility Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021; to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Gas Utility for the said fiscal year; and to make appropriations from the Gas Utility Renewal Fund or Operating Fund for renewing, rebuilding or extending the plant and distribution system of the Gas Utility and for the purchase of vehicles.

Ordinance No. 2020-060 To adopt the Department of Public Utilities’ Stores Internal Service Fund Budgets for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021, and to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Department of Public Utilities’ Stores Internal Service Funds for the said fiscal year.

Ordinance No. 2020-061 As Amended To adopt the Stormwater Utility Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021; to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Stormwater Utility for the said fiscal year; and to make appropriations from the Stor mwater Utility Renewal Fund or Operating Fund for renewing, rebuilding or extending the stormwater utility and for the purchase of vehicles.

Ordinance No. 2020-062 As Amended To adopt the Wastewater Continued on next column

Continued from previous column

Utility Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021; to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Wastewater Utility for the said fiscal year; and to make appropriations from the Wastewater Utility Renewal Fund or Operating Fund for renewing, rebuilding or extending the plant and distribution system of the Wastewater Utility and for the purchase of vehicles.

Ordinance No. 2020-063 To amend and reordain the fees set forth in Appendix A of City Code § 8-274(a)(2), (concerning the issuance of permits and conditions for concessions) for the pur pose of providing for permit fees for the issuance of permits for concessions in public parks and playgrounds of the City.

Ordinance No. 2020-068 To authorize the issuance of general obligation public improvement bonds of the City of Richmond in the maximum principal amount of $33,000,000 to finance the cost of school projects and general capital improvement projects of the City for the following purposes and uses: construction, reconstruction, improvements and equipment for public schools; construction, reconstruction, improvement and equipment for various infrastructure needs, including traffic control facilities, streets, sidewalks and other public ways, bridges, storm sewers, drains and culver ts, and refuse disposal facilities; participation in redevelopment, conser vation and community development p r o gra m s, i n c l u d i n g the construction, reconstruction, improvement and equipment for targeted public facilities included in these programs; construction, reconstruction, improvements and equipment for public institutional, operational, cultural, educational and entertainment buildings and facilities, including but not limited to the theaters, p a r k s, p l ay gr o u n d s, cemeteries, libraries and museums; acquisition of real property therefor as appropriate; and the making of appropriations to the City’s Economic Development Authority (“EDA”) to be used by the EDA to finance capital expenditures or to make loans or grants to finance capital expenditures for the purposes of promoting economic development; to authorize the Director of Finance, with the approval of the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City, to sell such bonds for such capital improvement projects, to provide for the form, details and payment of such bonds; to authorize the issuance of notes of the City in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds; and to authorize the issuance of taxable bonds, for the same purposes and uses, in the same maximum principal amount and payable over the same period as such general obligation public improvement bonds.

Ordinance No. 2020-069 To authorize the issuance of general obligation public improvement bonds of the City of Richmond in the maximum principal amount of $9,976,000 to finance the cost of capital improvement projects of the stormwater utility of the City for the following purposes and uses: replacement of and upgrades to the stor mwater facilities, including but not limited to, construction, reconstruction, improvements, r e h a b i l i t a t i o n and upgrades of stormwater sewers and associated facilities; new and replacement infrastructure of the storm sewer system, drainage structures, catch basins, ditches, storm sewer pipes, culverts, green infrastructure; acquisition of real property therefor as appropr iate; and equipment for various infrastructure needs; and authorizes the Director of Finance, with the approval of the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City, to sell such bonds for such capital improvement projects, to provide for the form, details and payment of such bonds and to authorize the issuance of notes of the City in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds, and to authorize the issuance of taxable bonds, for the same purposes and uses, in the same maximum principal amount and payable over the same period as such general obligation public improvement bonds.

Ordinance No. 2020-070 To cancel all authorized but unissued notes authorized by the City of Richmond Continued on next column

Continued from previous column

in Fiscal Years 20162017 and 2017-2018, to authorize the issuance of general obligation equipment notes of the City of Richmond in the maximum principal amount of $4,867,332 to finance the cost of equipment for the following purposes and uses: acquisition of computer, radio, office, solid waste collection, office furniture and miscellaneous equipment and vehicles for the various departments, bureaus and agencies of the City, and equipment for City schools; and to authorize the Director of Finance, with the approval of the Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City, to sell equipment notes to finance the acquisition of such equipment, and to authorize the issuance of taxable notes, for the same purposes and uses, in the same maximum principal amount and payable over the same period as such general obligation equipment notes.

Ordinance No. 2020-071 To cancel all authorized but unissued bonds authorized by the City of Richmond in Fiscal Years 2016-2017, to authorize the issuance of public utility revenue bonds of the City of Richmond in the maximum principal amount of $103,007,500 to finance the cost of capital improvement projects of the gas, water and wastewater utilities and public utilities buildings and facilities for the following pur poses and uses: enlargement, extension, repair, replacement, improvement and equipping of the gas plant and transmission lines; enlargement, extension, repair, replacement, improvement and equipping of the waterworks plant and transmission lines; enlargement, extension, repair, replacement, improvement and equipping of the wastewater plant and intercepting lines; construction, reconstruction, repair, replacement, and improvement of sanitary and storm water sewers, pumping stations, drains and culverts; construction, reconstruction, repair, replacement, improvement and equipping of public utility buildings and facilities therefor, including but not limited to the stores division; and acquisition of real property and real property rights (including without limitation easements and rightso f - way ) t h e r e fo r a s appropriate; to authorize the Director of Finance, with the approval of the Chief Administrative O f f i c e r, fo r a n d o n behalf of the City, to sell such bonds for such capital improvement projects; to provide for the form, details and payment of such bonds; to approve the form of supplemental indenture of trust; to authorize the issuance of notes of the City in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds; and to authorize the issuance of taxable bonds, for the same pur poses and uses, in the same maximum principal amount and payable over the same period as such public utility revenue bonds.

Ordinance No. 2020-072 To amend Appendix A of the City Code by increasing the fee for section 4-307, concerning the annual fee for a breeding permit, per dog or cat.

Ordinance No. 2020-073 To amend Appendix A of the City Code for section 4-275 (concerning impoundment and violation notice and fee for board and care) for the purpose of establishing a separate adoption fee for puppies.

Ordinance No. 2020-074 To amend City Code § 1295, (concerning athletic activities, adult leagues, t e n n i s t o u r n a m e n t s, tennis camps, and softball tour naments) for the purpose of removing the separate fees for softball tournaments and for the recreation centers known as Pine Camp Art and Recreation Center and portions of Hickory Hill Community Center, and to amend Appendix A of the City Code for section 12-95 (concerning athletic activities, adult leagues, t e n n i s t o u r n a m e n t s, tennis camps, and softball tour naments) for the purpose of establishing revised charges for such activities.

Continued from previous column

Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities.

Ordinance No. 2020-076 To amend and reordain City Code § 1294, (concer ning the reser vation of picnic shelters and the rental fee for picnic packs), for the purpose of including the fee for reservation of picnic shelters and removing the fee for picnic packs, and to amend the fees set forth in Appendix A of the City Code for City Code §§ 8-281, (concerning the permit processing fee for the use of public grounds, parks, playfields and playgrounds) to increase the cost of the permit processing fee, and 1294, (concerning picnic shelter fees), for the purpose of removing the fee for rental of picnic packs.

Ordinance No. 2020-077 To amend ch. 13, art. V, div. 3 of the City Code by adding therein new §§ 13-203 and 13-204, c o n c e r n i n g fe e s fo r employees of the City’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services who conduct Fire Prevention Code inspections on commercial and institutional properties in the City, and to amend Appendix A of the City Code by adding therein new fees for City Code § 13-203, for the purpose of establishing the fees to be charged for employees of the City’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services who conduct Fire Prevention Code inspections on commercial and institutional properties in the City.

Ordinance No. 2020-078 To amend City Code § 13-190, concerning the removal and closure of underground storage tanks, for the purpose of including aboveground storage tanks as subject to removal and closure, and to amend the fees set forth in Appendix A of the City Code for City Code § 13-190, for the purpose of establishing a new fee for the removal of aboveground storage tanks.

Ordinance No. 2020-079 To amend § 30-930.6 of the City Code, concerning certificates of appropriateness, for the purpose of establishing a fee for filing an application fo r a c e r t i f i c a t e o f appropriateness, and to amend Appendix A of the City Code by adding therein new fees for City Code §§ 30-930.6, concerning certificates of appropriateness, and 30-1020.4(a), concerning fees for filing an application for a certificate of zoning compliance, of the City Code, to establish new charges for such services.

Ordinance No. 2020-080 To amend and reordain City Code §§ 8-279 (concerning fees for use of public parks) for the purpose of revising the fees for weddings and to establish fees for rafting in the James River Park Systems, and to amend and reordain the fees set forth in Appendix A of the City Code for sections 8-277 (concerning fees for the use of the Dogwood Dell Amphitheater and Carillon in Byrd Park), 8-278 (concerning fees for the use of Cityowned equipment), 8-279 (concerning fees for use of public parks), and 8-284(b) and (c) (concerning meeting fees) of the City Code.

Ordinance No. 2020-081 As Amended To adopt the Wastewater Utility Budget for the fiscal year commencing Jul. 1, 2020, and ending Jun. 30, 2021; to appropriate the estimated receipts of the Wastewater Utility for the said fiscal year; and to make appropriations from the Wastewater Utility Renewal Fund or Operating Fund for renewing, rebuilding or extending the plant and distribution system of the Wastewater Utility and for the purchase of vehicles.

Ordinance No. 2020-075 To amend City Code § 12-108, concerning a nonresident fee for nonresidents of th e City renting facilities or enrolling in Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities athletic activities or classes, for the purpose of increasing the nonresident fee for the rental of any facility, park or equipment from the Department of

Ordinance No. 2020-082 As Amended To [amend the schedule of classifications and assigned ranges incorporated into section I of the Pay Plan for the purpose of revising the wording of certain classification titles and changing the pay ranges of certain classification titles; to amend section II(B) of the Pay Plan to provide a 2% pay increase for classified and unclassified permanent City employees who are not in the step based pay system for police and fire employees; and to] amend sections III(B) (4), III(B)(11), III(B)(12), III(B)(25)(e), III(B)(36), and III(B)(40), of the Pay Plan to (i) suspend police and fire career development, (ii) provide the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office with $884,474 for salar y supplements and $202,138 for Virginia Retirement System

Continued on next column

Continued on next column

Continued from previous column

contributions and the Commonwealth Attorney with a $51,074 salary supplement and a $10,306 Virginia Retirement System contribution, [(ii)] (iii) provide the Sheriff’s Office with $2,236,106 for salary supplements and the Sheriff with a $41,301.20 supplement, [(iii)] (iv) to suspend the education incentive for police and fire program until Jun. 30, 2021, [(iv) to change the living wage,] and (v) to add the new “Driver Pump Operator” classification to the stepbased pay system for sworn fire and police officers.

This meeting will be held through electronic communication means pursuant to and in compliance with Ordinance No. 2020093, adopted April 9, 2020. This meeting will be open to participation through electronic communication means by the public and closed to in-person participation by the public. Less than a quorum of Richmond City Council will assemble in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, and most Council members and other staff will participate by teleconference/ v i d e o c o n fe r e n c e v i a Microsoft Teams.

Audio of the meeting will be streamed live online at the following web address: https:// richmondva.legistar.com/ Calendar.aspx.To listen to the meeting’s live audio stream at the web address provided, find and click the link that reads, “In Progress” in the farthest right hand column entitled, “Video”.

The agenda for the Richmond City Council meeting is accessible t h r o u g h t h e C i t y ’s legislative website at the following web address: https://r ichmondva. legistar.com/Calendar. aspx.To view the agenda at the web address provided, find and click the link that reads, “Agenda” associated with the April 27, 2020 Richmond City Council Formal meeting listed in the calendar.

Interested citizens who wish to speak at the Richmond City Council meeting will be given an opportunity to do so by following the “Formal Meeting Access and P u bl i c Pa r t i c i p a t i o n Instructions” attached to the April 27, 2020 Richmond City Council Formal meeting agenda.

Citizens are encouraged to provide their comments in wr iting to CityClerksOffice@ richmondgov.com in lieu of calling in. The person responsible for receiving comments in writing is Candice D. Reid, City Cler k. All comments received prior to 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 27, 2020, will be provided to Council members prior to the meeting and will be included in the record of the meeting.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at http:// www.richmondgov.com/ CityClerk/index.aspx.

Candice D. Reid City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER LORRANDA JOHNSON, Plaintiff v.

ANTOINE JOHNSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19002265-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 9th day of June, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

Continued from previous column

the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that t h e d e fe n d a n t , w h o s e whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 1st day of July, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER CORBIN COTTINGHAM, Plaintiff v.

TONIQUE JOHNSON, Defendant.

Case No.: CL20001313-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that t h e d e fe n d a n t , w h o s e whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 1st day of July, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 Virginia: In the Circuit Court of the CIty of Richmond john marshall courts building linda sheryl kennedy, Plaintiff, v. david elmo kennedy, Defendant.

Civil Law No.: CL20-1448-3 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of the abovestyled suit is to obtain a divorce from the bonds of matrimony from the defendant on the grounds that the parties have lived separate and apart without interruption and without cohabitation for a period of more than one year, since May 15, 1991.

And it appearing by Affidavit filed according to law that David Elmo Kennedy, the above-named defendant, is not a resident of this state and that due diligence has been used by or in behalf of plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the defendant is, without effect.

It is therefore ORDERED that the said David Elmo Kennedy do appear in the Clerk’s Office of the Law Division of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond, 400 North 9th Street, Richmond, Virginia 23819, on or before June 16, 2020 and do whatever necessary to protect their interest in this suit.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk I ask for this: Rudolph C. McCollum, Jr. VSB #32825 P.O. Box 4595 Richmond, Virginia 23220 Phone (804) 523-3900 Fax (804) 523-3901 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND LATOYA ANTIONETTE NEBLETT, Plaintiff v.

JOHNNY (NMN) WILLIAMS, Defendant.

CL No. 20-1502-7 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is for the Plaintiff to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the Defendant on the ground that the parties have continuously lived separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of more than one year.

A n a f f i d av i t h av i n g been filed that the present residence of the Defendant is unknown to the Plaintiff and that diligence has been used by the Plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city Defendant is located, without effect, it is ORDERED that the Defendant appear before the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond on the 27 day of May, 2020, at 5:oo and protect his interests.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER KENNETH BEW, Plaintiff v.

JEANNE BEW, Defendant.

Case No.: CL20001281-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER ATILIO LARIOS, Plaintiff v.

RITA LATHAM Defendant.

Case No.: CL20000677-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who is a nonresident, appear here on or before the 18th day of

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Richmond Free Press

B6 April 23-25, 2020

Sports Plus Stories by Fred Jeter

Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Davis dies at 85 When historians reminisce about the Green Bay Packers dynasty of the 1960s, William Delford â&#x20AC;&#x153;Willieâ&#x20AC;? Davisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; name is among the first to come up.

Mr. Davis, who helped the Packers rule the NFL for a decade, died Wednesday, April 15, 2020, of kidney failure. He was 85 and lived in Santa Monica, Calif.

With Mr. Davis playing a ferocious brand of defensive end, the Packers won NFL titles in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967, as well as the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, the Grambling State University alumnus was a five-time All-Pro and member of the NFLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s All Decade Team for the 1960s.

Mr. Davis, who wore the No. 87 jersey, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

He ranks among the most durable performers in NFL annals. Between 1960 and his retirement in 1969, Mr. Davis never

Willie Davis

missed a game. He started 138 straight regular season contests.

No wonder he was the Packersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; first African-American captain.

Tackles and sacks were not officially recorded during the 1960s, but Mr. Davis was credited with 22 forced fumbles, an indicator of how hard he hit.

He did get credit for a combined five sacks in the first two Super Bowls.

Following retirement, Mr. Davis served on Green Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors while also pursuing numerous business opportunities.

He served in administrative positions at Mattel Toys, the Sara Lee Corp., Dow Chemical and Schlitz Brewing.

Mr. Davis became an NFL commentator for NBC-TV and started several radio stations of his own in Wisconsin.

The 1960s Packers rank with the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers and more recent New England Patriots for long-term

brilliance.

No less than 12 Packers from the 1960s are now in the Hall of Fame. The list includes defensive lineman Mr. Davis and Henry Jordan, linebackers Ray Nitschke and Dave Robinson, as well as defensive backs Willie Wood and Herb Adderley.

Other 1960s Packers in the Hall of Fame are quarterback Bart Starr, running backs Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung, and offensive linemen Jim Ringo, Jerry Kramer and Forrest Gregg.

Also Coach Vince Lombardi is a Hall of Famer.

A native of Lisbon, La., Mr. Davis played at Grambling under Coach Eddie Robinson. He was a 14th round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns in 1958 and played two seasons with the Browns before being traded to the Green Bay Packers.

In 1999, Mr. Davis was ranked No. 69 in The Sporting Newsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; list of Top 100 Players in NFL History.

Bobby Mitchell, a trailblazer with the Washington NFL team, dies at 84 Former NFL great Robert Cornelius â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bobbyâ&#x20AC;? Mitchell, famous for immense talent and racial trailblazing, died Sunday, April 5, 2020.

Mr. Mitchell was 84 and living in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Gwen.

The Hot Springs, Ark., native was among the NFLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elite running backs with the Cleveland Browns before becoming one of the leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top receivers with the Washington franchise.

In a remarkable career from 1958 to 1968, Mr. Mitchell caught 521 passes for 7,954 yards and 65 touchdowns.

He also ran 513 times for 2,735 yards and another 18 touchdowns. Much of that ground production came in Cleveland, where he shared a backfield with the iconic Jim Brown.

In 1983, Mr. Mitchell was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He earned three Super Bowl rings while serving in the Washington teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administration.

A seventh round draft choice in 1958 out of the University of Illinois, Mr. Mitchell starred for the Browns before an historic trade between Cleveland and Washington.

With the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1962, Washington chose Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ernie Davis, an AfricanAmerican out of Syracuse University.

At the time, Washington was the only NFL team that had failed to integrate through the 1961 season. The Washington teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bigoted owner, George Preston Marshall, had said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll sign a black player when the Harlem Globetrotters sign a white player.â&#x20AC;?

Still political pressure boiled over as Washington was moving out of privately owned Griffith Stadium into tax-funded District of Columbia Stadium, later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

Wary that the highly decorated Davis might present contractual problems, Marshall traded his top pick to Cleveland for Mitchell and another black player, Leroy Jackson.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Davis soon was diagnosed with leukemia and died before ever playing an NFL game.

Bobby Mitchell

Also joining Washington in 1962 via trade were John Nisby and Ron Hatcher.

Mr. Mitchell was clearly the headliner. In his first game wearing burgundy and gold, he ran a kickoff back for a 92-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys.

It was during the 1962 season that Mr. Mitchell moved from being primarily a running back to flanker, where he earned AllPro honors working with quarterbacks Norm Snead and then Sonny Jurgensen.

In Mr. Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first season as a wide receiver, he snared 72 passes for 1,394 yards and 11 touchdowns. He only ran one time from scrimmage.

By 1964, Mr. Mitchell and Charley Taylor, who was drafted out of Arizona State University, gave Washington one of the best sets of wide receivers in NFL history. Â Following retirement, Mr. Mitchell served as a Washington scout and later as assistant general manager before retiring in 2003 after 41 years with the organization. He aspired to become the NFLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first black general manager.

That did not happen. Mr. Mitchell was said to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;deeply saddenedâ&#x20AC;? when he was passed over for the GM job in 1998 in favor of Charley Casserly.

Mr. Mitchell also was disappointed in 1998 when new Coach Steve Spurrier issued the No. 49 jersey, Mr. Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number, to newcomer Leonard Stephens, an unheralded tight end who arrived to play for Washington in a trade from the Detroit Lions. No one had worn No. 49 in D.C. since Mr. Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement in 1968.

A brilliant all-around athlete, Mr. Mitchell early on was offered a baseball contract by the St. Louis Cardinals. Instead, he chose to play football and run track at the University of Illinois, where he set a world record of 7.7 seconds for the 60-meter hurdles. He passed up a bid to try out for the United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team in the 1960 Olympics to sign with Cleveland owner and Coach Paul Brown.

Mr. Mitchell volunteered with many civic groups around Washington and in 1980 began directing the Bobby Mitchell Hall of Fame Classic golf tournament to raise funds for leukemia and lymphoma research.

Legal Notices/Employment Opportunities Continued from previous page

Continued from previous column

May, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

BRUCE FORD, Plaintiff v.

NANCY FORD, Defendant.

Case No.: CL20000135-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 18th day of May, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER DWAYNE PARKES, Plaintiff v.

SHANEL PARKES, Defendant.

Case No.: CL20000377-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 18th day of May, 2020 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER Continued on next column

custodY Virginia: In the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court HENRICO County Commonwealth of Virginia, in re CEDILLO CEDILLO, JOSE SAUL, Case No.: JJ106440-01-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to: Grant sole legal custody of jose saul cedillo cedillo pursuant to code 16.1-241 (A3).

It is ordered that the defendant rutilIo delsid appear at the above-named Court and protect his or her interests on or before May 27, 2020, 9:00 AM.

SUSSEX SERVICE AUTHORITY ADVERTISMENT FOR BIDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE NORTHEASTERN REGIONAL WATER SYSTEM UPGRADES Sealed bids for the construction of the Northeastern Regional Water System Upgrades in Sussex County, Virginia will be received by the Sussex Service Authority located at 4385 Beef Steak Rd in Waverly, Virginia until 2:00 PM local prevailing time on June 12, 2020 and then at said ofďŹ ce publicly opened and read aloud.

The project is generally described as the installation of a skid mounted ďŹ ltration system into a new building addition. The scope includes the installation of a single skid mounted iron and manganese treatment system (IMTS), the installation of associated chemical feed systems, the construction of a 560sf building addition, and the associated electrical and plumbing requirements. This contract DOES NOT include the purchase of the IMTS. This equipment will be pre-purchased by Sussex Service Authority who will make all payments for the IMTS equipment to include shipping, startup and commissioning services, and taxes. The contract does, however, include receiving and ofďŹ&#x201A;oading, installation, start-up assistance and testing of the skid mounted IMTS.

Senior Programmer Analyst: Glen Allen, VA. Analyze, design, develop, test & implement Client/Server, Web based applications using SQL/PL SQL, JIRA, Informatica ETL Tool, Macess Support, SQL ProďŹ ler, SQL Server, Toad, TIDAL Job Scheduler, FACETS, JIRA, SNOW, EDI, DB2 and Oracle in Windows environ. Engage in Requirement Analysis, Planning & Migration.

Engage in coding, debugging & root cause analysis. Create test plan, test scripts & test data.

Utilize AGILE Process Methodology to develop & implement applications. Engage in complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), process automation in FCETS, create SQL Queries. Utilize Sybase, DB2 & Oracle to design & maintain database. Req BachelorĂ­s Degree or equiv (will accept any combination of edu & exp determined equivalent to a bachelorĂ­s degree) in Computer Science or Information technology w/ 2 yrs exp in the job offered. Job reqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s travel &/or relocation to various unanticipated client sites in the U.S. Mail resume to Global Sumi Technologies Inc., Attn: HR Department, 11549 Nuckols Road, Suite B, Glen Allen, VA - 23059.

To advertise in the

Richmond Free Press call

644-0496

Copies of the full Advertisement can be requested by contacting Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. OfďŹ ce at 757-229-1776.

MBE/WBE ďŹ rms are encouraged to submit bids. Bidders must comply with the following: the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Order # 11246 prohibiting discrimination in employment regarding race, color, creed, sex, or national origin; the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Orders # 12138 and 11625 regarding utilization of MBE/WBE ďŹ rms, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bidders must certify that they do not or will not maintain or provide for their employees any facilities that are segregated on the basis of race, color, creed, or national origin.

2 % ! , % 3 4 ! 4 % s % 3 4

804.358.5543

Thank you for your interest in applying for opportunities with The City of Richmond.

To see what opportunities are available, please refer to our website at www.richmondgov.com.

EOE M/F/D/V

Freelance Writers: Richmond Free Press has immediate opportunities for freelance writers.

Newspaper experience is a requirement. To be considered, please send 5 samples of your writing, along with a cover letter to news@richmond freepress. com or mail to: Richmond Free Press, P. O. Box 27709, Richmond, VA 23261. No phone calls.

AVAILABLE Downtown Richmond first floor office suite 5th and Franklin Streets 422 East Franklin Street Richmond, Virginia 23219

Bedros Bandazian

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Raffi Bandazian

Principal Broker, GRI